Glass Animals
by MidnightIncense
Summary: Abeno and Ashiya investigate a series of possessions in a local park, but when the youkai they're hunting snatches Ashiya from the corporeal world, Abeno rushes in to rescue him from the astral plane before it's too late to save his soul. Closely on the heels of the Executive's attack.
1. Gooey

"So people are getting possessed here?"

"Apparently," Abeno said. His arms were tightly crossed over his chest, expression serious. The light of the dusky sky caught in his gold hair and eyes, bronzing their lustre and rendering him a more somber silhouette than usual. It seemed to Hanae that Abeno sensed something big or bad, possibly both.

Hanae's eyes roved around the multipurpose park, reaching out his spiritual feelers to see if he could sense what Abeno sensed. A playground lay to the right, peppered with swings, slides, and a jungle gym. The most insidious thing about it was the merry go round. Hanae had many a childhood memory of being forced onto and spun on such things until he quite literally puked. However, he knew that even though the equipment emanated a hateful energy to him personally, in actuality it was a normal merry go round with no demonic energy whatsoever.

Hanae turned his attention to the baseball and soccer fields. The last of the kids were clearing out, bags slung over their shoulders, and young, fearless faces stretched wide with smiles. The only energy in that area was that of camaraderie.

Hanae's heart sank in his chest. He had studied long and hard with Yahiko to improve his youkai sensing abilities, but it appeared he wasn't quite up to snuff yet. It was probably true he would never be as adept as Abeno was—being the Master of the Mononokean and having been at that position for years, it was no wonder he was the best—but if the demonic energy was really as strong as Abeno's face betrayed, he really should be able to feel it by now.

"Is it bad?" Hanae asked.

Abeno's eyes narrowed, scouring a hard line from one side of the field to the playground. "I don't know."

"...You don't know?"

"There's definitely residual energy here, from a big youkai. But it feels...dampened somehow. Fluid. Like it's behind a wall, or underground?" He turned to Hanae. "Don't you feel it?" A muscle slid in Abeno's jaw when he saw Hanae's sheepish expression. "Of course you don't. You're about as reliable as a dowsing rod."

"Hey! I don't know what that means exactly, but I resent it!"

"Remind me to schedule another training session with Yahiko," Abeno said absently as he took a step. Hanae pouted and scuffed his shoe against the dirt. Abeno stood on home plate of the baseball field for a long while, staring at the sun as it slowly melted like butter on the horizon.

"So, what now?" Hanae stepped up beside him, and tried and failed yet again to sense the elusive youkai. "You weren't hired to exorcise this youkai, right? So, if it doesn't want to go… What are you going to do?"

A line formed in the space between Abeno's eyebrows which Hanae knew meant he was either troubled, uncomfortable, or about to insult him, all of which didn't make Hanae feel particularly reassured.

"I can't make a youkai do what it doesn't want to do," Abeno said after the sun had finally fully liquefied. "But I can at least talk with it and let it know its options." There was something warning in the flat tone of Abeno's voice, and Hanae felt a shiver tug at the back of his neck.

"You sounded really badass just now," he said, half truthfully, half to dispel his unease.

Abeno didn't turn his head, but his eyes snapped toward him. The furrow in his brow deepened and Hanae was forced to add a fourth interpretation to the expression: Abeno was insulted.

"Sorry," Hanae said, even though he had meant it as a compliment.

Abeno didn't dignify his apology with an answer and said instead, "The rumors say there have been a rash of possessions in this area lasting from a few minutes to an hour. The victims report feeling like they're in a trance or a dream. Afterward, they feel short of breath, nauseated, irritable…"

Hanae's ears buzzed as Abeno continued to detail the possession particulars, by try as he might to focus, darkness crept into the corners of his consciousness, blackening his thoughts. The dusky glow of the field cast shadows where they weren't a moment ago, and in his mind the Executive loomed over him. His heart raced. Energy crushed down on him, sleek raven eyes glistening like black mirrors, his feathers plumed and curling in his nostrils like fetid smoke. _I... I can't breathe! _He was clawing at his throat, trying to tear the invisible hands from his windpipe. _I'm going to die._

"Are you okay?"

A hand clasped his arm and Hanae wrenched himself from the memory. His heart was pounding so hard it hurt. He realized his breathing had gone shallow. His neck and back were slick with sweat. Abeno's eyes shone in concern and Hanae felt his face grow hot with shame.

_The incident with the Executive was weeks ago. I'm over it!_ _Why am I thinking about it now?_

He had done everything he could to convince Abeno to let him continue as an employee of the Mononokean, to show him he could take care of himself as an exorcist. He wouldn't let himself slip backwards.

"Yeah," Hanae said, trying for a laugh. "Yeah, of course."

Abeno's grip on his bicep tightened a fraction. "Are you sure?" He narrowed his eyes, searching Hanae's face and then his body for signs of weakness.

Hanae knew what was coming next: Abeno would tell him he didn't have to come, he would council him not to push himself. A spike of resistance shot through Hanae's chest. He brushed Abeno's hand away. "Yes, I'm fine," he said with steel in his voice.

Abeno's mouth slanted in disbelief, but he couldn't say anything, because Hanae marched away from home plate toward the playground.

"So the plan is to lure the youkai out, right?" Hanae called over his shoulder. "Let's split up to cover more ground. I'll shout if I find it."

"Ashiya."

_Why is he worried _now?_ I wish sometimes that he would go back to the Abeno-san that just scoffed and made fun of me._

"Ashiya," Abeno said again, louder and with more heat, as the distance between them grew.

Hanae whirled around. "I'm fine! I can handle this."

They stared each other down. The silence between them weighed heavily, and Hanae wondered at how there was no sound, not the hush of the wind nor the chirp of cicadas, when he wished for it the most. He needed something to fill the void, to distract from the worry eating at the corners of Abeno's expression.

"I can do this, Abeno-san," Hanae said, just above the silence. "Please let me do this."

The fire in Abeno's eyes died. Hanae saw him breathe in through his mouth and exhale, slow and tight through his nose. "Call me immediately if you find the youkai."

Abeno walked away from him out into the open field and Hanae relaxed. One by one his muscles uncoiled, leaving a low ache behind. He hadn't realized how tense he was until Abeno's gaze left him.

Hanae trudged to the swing set and sat down. His feet skimmed the ground as he drifted forward and backward, tracing drunken lines in the wood chips. _I'm fine. I'll work harder. I swear it._

Hanae nodded to himself. He closed his eyes and focused, stretching his awareness, trying to tap into that unnameable something that resonated with the energy around him. He didn't know how long he sat there, but after a while, something bumped up against his consciousness. It was slippery, like a sea creature breaching the surface for a second before slipping back under again, there and gone so quickly you doubted whether there had been anything at all. Hanae screwed his eyes shut tighter and focused focused focused. And then, it happened again.

Hanae opened his eyes. The field had gone dark. There was a lamp at the far end by the parking lot, but the pale dirty light did little about the darkness but draw attention to the depth of it. Goosebumps prickled Hanae's arms as he stood.

The presence was obvious now, but like Abeno said, it felt murky. He couldn't tell where it came from, but he knew that it was somewhere nearby.

"Hello?" he hazarded, turning a slow circle in the dark. The merry go round squeaked as a breeze nudged it and Hanae almost jumped out of his skin at the sound. He groaned under his breath.

_Maybe… I shouldn't have told Abeno-san we should split up… _This situation was starting to feel like the beginning of a slasher film.

"Yeah…" Hanae swallowed. "I'm going to find Abeno-san, I think."

Something shot out of the darkness. Hanae fell back as the thing bore down on him. Its face was hard and bone white. Wood chips dug into the back of Hanae's neck as he tried to pull away, but there was nowhere to go. His heart thundered in his chest as he saw it had no eyes, just gaping holes. His scream lodged in his throat when he realized it didn't have a face either; the skull of some hellish beast hung above him, and serrated teeth jutted like icicles from the end of its snout.

The youkai reached a hand toward him, but it wasn't a hand at all, just long tapered feelers that writhed and burrowed into his mouth, his nose, his ears. He was choking.

_Help! Abeno-san!_

The youkai leaned down toward his face, eye to yawning socket and the world went black.


	2. Exxus

Itsuki's stomach wriggled as he stalked the perimeter of the park. He didn't want to make a big deal of it when Ashiya suggested they split up, but he was _worried_. Ashiya had not looked okay, even though he pretended he was.

The truth was Ashiya hadn't been okay for weeks. Not since his run in with the Executive. Itsuki had nightmares now of the abject terror on Ashiya's face, of tears streaming down his cheeks. In the worst nightmares, Itsuki forgot how to use his Influence and he could do nothing but stand by, helpless, paralyzed by the sound of Ashiya's wheezing breaths.

He was so sure he'd lose Ashiya after that. Who would want to come back to work after being traumatized that severely? What human wouldn't be terrified and suspicious of youkai after such an experience?

_But Ashiya _did_ come back. He refused to stay away._

Itsuki couldn't believe it, but he couldn't deny the relief that pulsed through his veins when he saw the resolve in Ashiya's eyes. He wouldn't lose him after all.

The gears had started turning the day he betrayed the Executive's trust and used his Influence on him, but when he saw how brave Ashiya was, how dedicated he was to their cause despite his fears, a definitive switch flipped inside Itsuki. He _wouldn't_ lose Ashiya. Never again. He would do everything in his power to ensure his safety and keep him by his side.

_But he doesn't let me take care of him!_ Itsuki fisted his hands at his sides and started to jog toward the playground where he last saw Ashiya. _He always insists on doing things himself, and it drives me insane!_

"For god's sake, Ashiya, where are you?" he muttered to himself.

Itsuki stumbled. The youkai energy suddenly spiked, and it was _big _and very _bad_. The presence rammed into Itsuki's body and knocked him off balance. But the worst was that the energy was strongest from the direction of the darkened playground.

"Ashiya!" Itsuki broke into a run.

The light was poor. He couldn't see Ashiya anywhere. Not on the swings, or the slide, or by the monkey bars. _Maybe he isn't here anymore. Maybe he was somewhere else when the youkai appeared. _He cut around the faded metal merry go round and nearly tripped over the body.

"Ashiya!" The dark-haired boy was lying unconscious on the ground. Itsuki kneeled and shook him, but he didn't wake. "Ashiya? Ashiya, come on." No matter what he did, he wouldn't wake. Itsuki sat back on his heels and tried to _think_.

_Assess the situation, figure out what's wrong and _fix it_._ Itsuki took a harder look at Ashiya's prone form. He looked unharmed, but not at peace. His breathing was normal, and when Itsuki pressed his fingers to Ashiya's throat, his heartbeat wasn't elevated or too slow. His brow was creased, though, as if he were having a bad dream.

_A dream? _Itsuki searched for the youkai's presence, but he realized he couldn't feel it anymore. He swallowed. Something scratched at the back of his mind. Deep in the recesses of his memory, dots of Aoi's teachings were aligning, and the picture they painted made sweat bead on Itsuki's brow.

"Astral possession…?" Itsuki remembered Aoi mentioning it, but they had only trained for the occasion once or twice, because the chance of it occurring was so rare. But it explained the situation: why the youkai's presence seemed to be all around them, but veiled, and why Ashiya was lying unconscious on the ground, looking like he was waging a war in his dreams.

Somehow, the youkai had access to the astral plane, and it had taken Ashiya with it. Judging by the other cases, it only meant to leech energy from him, but…

_None of the other cases mentioned sleeping or falling unconscious…_ _Which could mean…_ Itsuki swallowed. If the youkai brought him to the astral plane, it might mean to break Ashiya's mental defenses and hijack his consciousness. If it succeeded, the least of his worries was possession. Astral attacks done wrong could kill.

Itsuki wouldn't let that happen. He had to go in and pull Ashiya's consciousness back to the solid world.

The only problem was he had never tried it before.

Itsuki spent a few long minutes picking through his memories, trying to cobble the process together. He would need to lull himself into a hypnotic stupor, focusing on his destination: Ashiya. And he had to get in and out fast; the spirit untethered was vulnerable and easily corrupted, and the astral plane was made up entirely of spiritual residue, so sensing a youkai versus a human soul within its boundaries was extraordinarily difficult.

_It's fine, Itsuki. All you have to do is perform an astral projection with barely any practice, locate Ashiya among hundreds of threads, and find a way out with both your and Ashiya's spirit without being possessed by the powerful youkai lurking in the shadows. Sure. Should be a piece of cake._

If this was anyone but Ashiya, he would seriously consider walking away and never returning.

Itsuki drew in a steadying breath. "Hang in there, Ashiya," he murmured as he lowered himself to lay at his side. "I'm coming; so be the annoyingly persistent guy you are and don't get possessed before I get there."

_Okay, so…_ Itsuki stared up at the pitch black sky. The air was chilly, and he shifted a bit to pull his jacket tighter around him, then chastised himself for caring about the weather when he was supposed to be astral projecting. _Focus! What's the first step?_

He had to make a tether, some kind of connection to the corporeal world that would act as a cord and lead him back to his body. Lying down against the earth as he was doing now was a good start. Next he had to make sure his spirit sought Ashiya's. This could be achieved by thought alone if he were skilled enough, but Itsuki didn't want to take any chances. He grabbed hold of Ashiya's wrist. This was doubly useful in that it would further connect him to the solid world and help him resonate with Ashiya's soul.

He could feel the steady thrum of Ashiya's pulse against the pads of his fingers. It made him feel more centered.

_Okay._ Itsuki drew in a slow breath, held it, then released slowly. He meditated like this on his breathing until he felt his mind stray. He pointed his thoughts toward Ashiya then, letting his intent stretch until the tide of the unconscious carried it away.

Hanae stood in the middle of the park, centered on home plate. He couldn't remember how he had gotten all the way over here. _I could have sworn I was in the playground…_ His heart spasmed. _The youkai!_

Hanae swiveled from side to side, but the youkai was nowhere to be seen. A shiver crept down his spine, remembering the creature's hollow eyes and searching tendrils. It had been all over him. He patted himself down, but he was unharmed. _But why? It was attacking me, but now it's gone and I'm somewhere I wasn't._

"Something weird is going on…" Hanae leered around the darkness, focusing his spiritual powers. He wanted to find Abeno, but the last thing he needed was to be ambushed by the youkai again.

There was nothing but static in the energy around him, and for once Hanae knew his inability to sense the youkai was not his own fault; this place was buzzing with strands of energy, so crowded together it felt like he was swimming in white noise.

"Great..." Hanae murmured.

He took a tentative step off home plate and started walking back in the direction of the playground. He wasn't sure how much time had passed from when he and Abeno parted, when he was attacked by the youkai, and now, but he knew that if it had been more than five minutes, Abeno would have come looking for him. The park wasn't that big, after all. Hanae's elementary school teachings kicked in and told him to go to the place Abeno would expect to find him and stay put until he was found.

His instincts paid off. Before he was halfway there he saw Abeno striding across the field from the direction of the playground. Hanae stopped and waved his arms. "Abeno-san!"

Abeno's expression was grim when he approached, and Hanae hoped that meant his friend was only annoyed that he had to come looking for him.

"Where were you?" Abeno said.

"Well, that's the thing! I was in the playground, but then the youkai appeared and jumped on me, and all of a sudden I woke up all the way out here!" Hanae wrapped his arms around himself and hunched his shoulders. "I can't remember what happened. And I don't know what happened to the youkai. But it was..." He shivered.

"I know. The youkai's probably lurking around here somewhere. We're on the astral plane right now."

"The astral plane? That's a real thing?" Hanae's eyes widened as he took in the space anew. It looked just like the real world, but now that he studied it more closely, it was perhaps a little duller in color, less substantial in shape. Like someone's recollection of the world.

"Real enough," Abeno sighed. "It's really hard to get in here; you need substantial spiritual energy to get back and forth. I've used practically all of mine to get here."

"Does that mean…" Hanae swallowed thickly. "Are we trapped?"

"No, not trapped." Abeno sucked his bottom lip. "You have a lot of spiritual energy, too, right?" Hanae blinked at him. Abeno shifted and cleared his throat. "You could lend me some of your energy."

"...I can do that?"

"Yeah, of course you can. You didn't know?"

"How was I supposed to know something like that?" Hanae uncrossed his arms and threw them out in a show of irritability. "_You're _the Master of the Mononokean. I'm just the employee."

Abeno's eyes widened, but his expression went placid again so quickly Hanae couldn't tell if he had just imagined the surprise that flitted across his face.

"Right…" Abeno said slowly. "Well, you can lend me energy. Will you do that for me?"

"Uh… Okay? If it gets us out of here. But how do I do it?"

"You just have to lower your defenses and let me in. I'll do the rest."

" 'Let you in?' That sounds a little creepy," Hanae said with a laugh. But Abeno didn't laugh.

"It won't work unless you allow it to." His eyes simmered as he took a step forward. "You have to _want _to do it."

The expression on his face was hungry, and suddenly they were standing less than an arms length apart. Hanae's heartbeat kicked up a few notches. _Why does this feel a little…?_ Abeno's fingers ghosted over the back of his hand and Hanae's head filled with cotton balls.

"Well?" Abeno prompted silkily. "Do you agree?"

"I..." Hanae tried to wet his lips, but his body felt suddenly numb. An electric current buzzed through him, short circuiting his nerves.

"Don't look so scared," Abeno said, his smile honeyed. "It won't hurt. Just let me in, Ashiya-san."

Hanae's heart jumped. _Oh HELL no._

He backpedaled away so quickly he nearly tripped himself. With the distance between them, the fizzy feeling coursing through his body started to fade. He could think clearly again, and he realized just how _wrong_ everything was.

"You are _not_ Abeno-san," Hanae growled.

"What are you saying?" Abeno blinked at him, face hurt and confused. But the hunger still crackled behind his eyes.

"Abeno-san never calls me 'Ashiya-san,' _and _Abeno-san would never be all—" Hanae stuttered, feeling his face heat. The not-Abeno raised an eyebrow. "He wouldn't be all...all over me!" Hanae finally managed to spit out. "He doesn't do stuff like that to me."

"Doesn't he?" The not-Abeno sighed and began checking its nails. "Guess I judged wrong. I could've sworn you had that kind of relationship. Or you were at least working up to it." It sighed again and half smiled at Hanae. The smile was shadowy and sharp and so un-Abeno it looked doubly terrifying reflected on the face of his friend.

"You're that youkai, aren't you?" Even as the words left his mouth, Hanae knew it was true. _They can shapeshift?_ He balled his fists to try to crush the fear welling in his chest.

"I was so close," said the youkai, and its voice didn't sound like Abeno's at all. It sounded the way chalk felt on your fingertips. "If only I hadn't messed up your name..."

Hanae blinked and the nails on the youkai's hands were suddenly long and tapered. They browned before his eyes, turning soft and slithery. Abeno's gold hair and eyes began to slough off, melting away like wax from a candle. The skull beneath shone stark white.

"It's too bad," the youkai rasped. "I liked wearing that face. Made me feel pretty."

Hanae took a few steps back. A rivulet of sweat rolled down his neck. As the youkai reverted to its true form, its demonic presence grew, and the air became thick and hard to breathe. It was nowhere near the level of the Executive, but the presence was strong—much stronger on the astral plane than in the solid world—and the memory of the Executive's malice flooded his brain. Hanae's chest spasmed.

_Abeno-san._ But he knew he couldn't rely on Abeno to save him this time.

He was alone.

_Don't panic don't panic don't panic! _Hanae doubled over, trying desperately to squeeze air into his lungs. _Breathe, Hanae! You're stronger than this! _But the harder he tried to control it, the worse it felt.

"Your defenses are already pretty low," murmured the youkai, close, so close now. It smelled like rot and death and nothingness. Hanae wheezed, dropping to his knees and curling further into himself.

His vision began to spot. _I'm going to die. I'm going to _die.

"I don't even need your permission at this rate."

He could feel the youkai looming over him. Any second now it would reach into him and strip his energy away. And he would die. Or worse, he would be trapped on the astral plane, his spirit in tatters, just another ribbon of residual energy among the hundred thousand.

_NonononoNO!_

Hanae's mind cut out. Coolness spread through his body, pooling in the palm of his hand. His thoughts swept blank.

Why had he been scared again?

Hanae looked up. The youkai was above him—the same feelers, the same skull and hollow eyes—but he wasn't scared. The youkai, though… Its eyeless sockets locked onto Hanae's hand, and even though it had no face, he could sense its fear.

_What were we doing? _Hanae looked down at his hand. Energy swirled around it, circling like a vortex. _Oh, that's right. It wants to kill me. But I won't die._

Hanae raised a hand up toward the threat. The youkai jumped back, impossibly high and far. It landed at the edge of the playground and quivered. Hanae watched it cooly from behind his outstretched hand.

"Forgive me," the youkai said quietly. "I didn't know." It winked out of sight.

Vaguely, Hanae guessed it had just dropped out of the astral plane. He didn't really care. The threat was gone.

Hanae closed his eyes and collapsed to the ground.


	3. Hazey

Itsuki found himself standing by the merry go round. Since he had, until a moment ago, been laying on the ground, he guessed he had successfully astral projected. That, and when he looked down at his wrist, he discovered a thin silver thread wrapped around it. His tether had worked successfully; he would be able to find his way back to his body.

_Now I just have to find Ashiya…_ Itsuki peered around the playground, but just as he imagined, the air was thick with energy past and present. It was difficult to parse one signature from another. He would have to rely mostly on his eyes. Eyes weren't known to be the most reliable things in the astral plane... Itsuki sighed through his nose.

He wandered through the playground, ducking under jungle gyms, and peering under benches, checking any places he could imagine Ashiya cowering. He called Ashiya's name a few times, but he felt silly and uncomfortable shouting into the seemingly deserted space.

_Please don't be possessed, Ashiya, _he thought miserably as he climbed up the slide.

He would never forgive himself if Ashiya had been harmed. They never should have split up. How could he have been so _stupid_? He should have believed in Ashiya more, should have treated him more as an exorcist rather than a victim. Maybe then he wouldn't be pushing him away all the time when he wanted nothing more than to keep him close and safe at his side.

_I'll do better. Just be _safe, _god damn it._

Itsuki pulled himself up onto the platform. He could see the whole playground from here, and some ways into the parking lot and to the baseball diamond, but he couldn't make out any wandering souls in the muted gray. Itsuki crouched down and peered into the tunnel that connected the slide platform to the monkey bars'. Two huge blue eyes blinked at him from the other side.

Itsuki nearly jumped out of his skin. "Ashiya!" he yelped, managing at the last second to recognize the eyes as belonging to his friend and to turn his cry of fear into one of annoyance. "What the hell? Didn't you hear me calling you?"

"Sorry, Abeno-san," Ashiya mumbled. He crawled through the tunnel and stood by Itsuki's side.

His pallor was ashen. All the anger and annoyance leached out of Itsuki as he took in his friend's badly shaken appearance.

"Did something happen?"

"I saw the youkai." Ashiya's voice wobbled as he spoke. "It… It tried to take my energy. I don't know where it went, but…" He swallowed thickly, his voice dropping to barely a whisper, "I was so scared, Abeno-san."

Itsuki's stomach clenched. It hurt to see this version of Ashiya. He hated to see him terrified of youkai; youkai were for the most part kind and harmless creatures, but all it took was one bad encounter, a youkai like the Executive or this astral specter, to ruin someone's impression forever. Ashiya was resilient, but everyone had a limit.

"Ashiya…" Itsuki didn't know what else to say, though. He didn't know how he could keep Ashiya as an employee if one day he finally decided he'd had enough. And Itsuki knew he should let him go if he truly wanted to leave, no matter how much it would hurt.

With no comforting words at his disposal, Itsuki fell back on action. He laid a hand on Ashiya's shoulder. To his surprise, Ashiya leaned into it, resting his head against Itsuki's collar bone.

And that's when Itsuki felt it. A subtle shift in the energy around him. Itsuki's Influence licked down his arm like frigid fire.

Ashiya reacted fast—inhumanely fast. He hissed and jumped away, skidding down the slide backwards, his blue eyes burning all the way down.

By the time it touched down on the faded wood chips below, the youkai had abandoned its farce and reverted back to its true form.

The thing was massive, nearly seven feet tall and broad about the shoulders. It would've been even taller if it stood up straight, but it seemed comfortable to defy gravity and hover with its scaly feet dragging beneath it. Lanky, mossy looking wings hung over its arms, trailing down to mingle with its...fingers? Feelers? Whatever they were, they were hideous.

Itsuki dearly hoped Ashiya never saw this thing face to face.

The youkai's skull head shouldn't have been capable of emotion, but at the moment it looked decidedly put out. "If it didn't work on your employee, I knew there was no way it would work on the almighty Master of the Mononokean, but," the youkai rubbed its shoulder where Itsuki's Influence had sunk in, if only for a second, "my _stars_ you two are a scary couple!"

Itsuki carefully slid down the slide, and felt mollified when the youkai backed away so there was a comfortable distance between them. Although, there really was no "comfortable distance" when the youkai was that large and nightmarish. Itsuki was, however, a professional, and didn't let his dislike show.

"Where's my employee?"

The youkai grunted and pointed toward the field. "Somewhere over there."

"Did you hurt him?"

"Who? Me?" The youkai sounded flabbergasted. "No. I _tried_ to take his energy—just a _little itty bit_!—but he went crazy! Nearly killed me whipping out his Influence all of a sudden…"

Itsuki raised an eyebrow. _Ashiya called on his Influence again?_ That was good. Even if he couldn't quite control it yet, it had come in his time of need. Ashiya had defended himself without hesitation, just as Itsuki had instructed him. Pride fizzed in Itsuki's chest.

"Good," he told the youkai, and it scoffed. Now that he knew Ashiya wasn't in imminent danger, he could deal with what they came here for. "You shouldn't be here, attacking innocent humans for their energy. It's not the way things are done anymore. I can open a door for you to the Underworld. You won't have to leech off humans' energy there."

The youkai turned its face away. "I'm not ready to retire yet."

Itsuki drew his mouth into a hard line. "Well then, you only have one other option: Leave this area and go somewhere far away, where I don't have to hear about you."

"Oh yeah? Is that my only option, Master of the Mononokean?"

Itsuki didn't care for the laughter in its voice. He fixed the youkai with his most dispassionate glare. "You can't stay here," he said, and the Influence around his hand flared ominously.

Of course, Itsuki would never use his Influence to control or kill a youkai, unless it was a really desperate situation. But most youkai didn't know Ituski well enough to call him on his principles. They saw his sharp eyes and the aura of power wafting around him and decided not to tempt his temper.

The youkai shrunk at Itsuki's fearsome display. "...Fine," it mumbled and Itsuki felt supremely satisfied. "I'll disappear somewhere, so relax."

Itsuki obligingly snuffed out his Influence. "Good choice. Before you go, bring me and my employee back to the real world."

The youkai snorted. It was a nasty, dry scraping sort of sound. "I can't do that. Astral projection is hard stuff; I barely have enough energy for myself. Why do you think I steal from humans?"

Itsuki narrowed his eyes.

"I'm telling the truth! Now, you better have been telling the truth too!" The youkai backed away. "I'll keep my side of the bargain if you do."

And just like that, the youkai blipped out of sight, zipping off to wherever it would cause trouble next, hopefully, far, far away from Tokyo. Itsuki shook his head and strode across the field to find Ashiya.

He found him lying face down in the middle of the field. This was disconcerting.

"Ashiya?" Itsuki shook his shoulder, a little roughly, to be honest. He was finding Ashiya passed out on the ground far too often lately and it was beginning to feel like one day he really would be dead.

Thankfully, today was not that day. Ashiya twitched, and slowly his eyes opened. He lifted his face and blinked at Itsuki.

"Abeno-san?"

"You idiot. I leave you for one second and you get kidnapped."

The muzzy look on Ashiya's face vanished. He sat up ramrod straight and scuttled backward. "Wait a minute," he said ferociously. "How do I know it's really you and not the youkai again?"

"Because I'm going to punch you in the face if you don't come back here right now. Do you know how _draining _astral projection is?"

Ashiya pursed his lips. He looked almost convinced that Itsuki really was Itsuki, but the fool of course had to stick to his guns and prove it. "Alright, just answer this one question then: How many tails does Fuzzy have?"

"What?" Itsuki furrowed his brow. "Am I supposed to know that?" Ashiya narrowed his eyes. "I… This is ridiculous," Itsuki mumbled to himself, mussing his hair to coxcomb proportions. "I don't care how many tails it has, so I don't know. Three? Why couldn't you just ask me when your birthday is? Or your favorite food? December 21st and strawberries. Or melon bread."

Ashiya arched an eyebrow. "Huh. I didn't think you paid that much attention." There was a smile threatening the corner of his mouth.

"I make it a point to know as much about my employees as possible."

Ashiya chuckled and rose to his feet. "Okay. I believe you." He dusted nonexistent dirt off the front of his pants. "And you were right about Fuzzy's tails, by the way. You should trust yourself more."

Itsuki crossed his arms and grunted. That was when he noticed the silver thread around his wrist looked a little anemic. His energy reserves were running low. He could feel his body growing fainter now that he was focusing.

"We gotta go," he told Ashiya.

"But the youkai…?"

"I took care of it. Come here."

Ashiya came obediently to his side. Itsuki raised a hand to his mouth, trying to think how he was going to pull this off. "I have a tether back to my physical body," he explained to Ashiya's questioning look, "but it's going to be tricky pulling you along with me. I guess… It would be best if we could tie you to me somehow, so we can't be separated."

_Maybe I can untie the thread and wrap it around both of us?_ He was a little wary of that, though. As far as he knew, unrooting the tether wasn't highly recommended.

Ashiya tilted his head. "How about if I…" He took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Itsuki's waist. "This way, it'll be like we're one soul."

He flashed an innocent smile as he said this, as if this was a completely normal and logical explanation for hugging Itsuki so close. Which it was. Of course it was. What else would it be?

"Uh. Yeah…" _"Like we're one soul?" Did he seriously just say that?_

Itsuki stared into Ashiya's eyes and tried to discreetly choke down his apprehension. "This…could work, maybe." He felt a little fuzzy headed. He chose to think this was a result of his soul being stretched too thin for too long.

Their noses brushed as Ashiya shifted to get a more comfortable, tighter hold on his waist, and after a moment struggling with his nerves, Itsuki wrapped his arms around Ashiya as well.

And now Ashiya seemed to realize the intimacy of the position. He pressed his lips together and averted his eyes.

This display of shyness made Itsuki feel instantly better. "Okay, I'm going to travel back now."

He tugged the thread and directed his thoughts towards the corporeal realm. He and Ashiya held fast to each other as the tide of consciousness yanked them forward.

Hanae landed back in his body with a solid _thump._ His bones actually jolted at the impact, and his muscles ached all over, as if they had been through intense physical training. He sat up and groaned aloud.

"If this is what astral projection feels like…" he said to Abeno as he rubbed his temples, "I am never doing that again." Abeno didn't answer. Hanae turned to him. The other boy had sat up, but he was doubled over. "Abeno-san…?"

Abeno squinted up at him. "Get me to a door…now." His pallor was ghostly pale, and the sides of his hair were matted with sweat. Abeno screwed his eyes shut and reached out a hand. "Mononokean. Before I pass out."

"R-right! Okay." Hanae jumped up, his muscle fatigue completely forgotten. He took hold of Abeno's hand and hauled him to his feet. "I've got you. Hang on."

Abeno was so weak he could barely walk, so Hanae had to wrap an arm around him and shoulder the brunt of his weight while they hobbled across the field. The closest building with a door was a bathroom. Hanae wanted to pass by it and head to the supply shed by the parking lot, but Abeno was getting heavier and heavier and Hanae wasn't sure he was going to stay conscious for much longer.

_I wish I could call the Mononokean myself!_ But he was just an employee. An employee with no way to get them both home but to walk if Abeno passed out.

"Abeno-san, we're here," he said when they reached the front of the bathroom. He knew that Abeno was in a bad way when he didn't have the energy to be annoyed or disgusted at his choice of door.

"Mon…" Abeno huffed and raised one shaking hand, "Mono...nokean...come."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he passed out cold. Hanae made a strangled noise as Abeno's full weight crashed against him. He had to hook his elbow in the handle of the door and pull it open as he looped his arms under Abeno's armpits to hold him up.

They fell through the open door, which blessedly led to the soft tatami of the Mononokean and not the hard tile of a public restroom. Fuzzy and the Mononokean went into instant panic mode.

**What happened? Σ(°****°|||)****︴****Did Itsuki open too many doors?**

"He had to bring me back from the astral plane," Hanae said miserably. He lay on his back where he fell, Abeno draped across his chest. This close, he could feel how hot Abeno was and see the sweat beading on his brow.

**(O_O;) The astral plane? Oh no…**

Fuzzy nuzzled Hanae's cheek and then pawed at Abeno's sleeve, looking concerned.

"He's running a fever." Hanae sat up, carefully cradling Abeno in his lap as he did so. "Is that normal? Is he going to be alright?"

**It's okay, Hanae. He probably just strained himself. He just needs to sleep it off.**

Hanae hoped desperately that this was the case. He didn't know what he would do if Abeno was really sick. It would be all his fault. _If only I wasn't so weak. If only I wasn't such a burden._

**I'll open a door to Hana Ashi,** the scroll read. The characters rolled down gently, and Hanae knew that the Mononokean felt the same worry he did.** It would be best if you kept an eye on him. Would that be okay?**

"Yes, of course."

Hanae struggled to get to his feet and drag Abeno up with him. Abeno was slight, but he was also tall, and an unconscious person was amazingly heavy. Fuzzy did his best to help push Abeno up, which, in truth, wasn't much, but Hanae was touched by the effort.

Before they left, the Mononokean jingled its bell to get Hanae's attention. **Leave the door cracked, just in case. If something doesn't look right, I'll call the Legislator and Koura.**

Hanae agreed gratefully. Together he and Fuzzy managed to carry Abeno out the door the Mononokean opened for them. The door led to Hanae's bedroom, and he was thankful for it. He lugged Abeno across the room and slid him onto the bed as gently as he could manage.

Hanae pulled the blanket up from the foot of the bed and tucked Abeno in. Then he went into the bathroom and dampened a washcloth to dab at his forehead. Abeno murmured at the cool cloth against his skin, but didn't wake.

Hanae knelt at the side of the bed and studied his friend's face. It was troubled in sleep. "Abeno-san… Please be okay. I promise I'll work harder. I'll become stronger, so just… Be okay."

He swept at his eyes. Here he was, promising to be stronger, and he was crying like a baby. Fuzzy crawled into his lap and nudged him. Hanae pet the little youkai and smiled.

"You're right. He's fine. It's just a fever! I shouldn't get all worked up like this." He tried out a laugh, and found it actually did improve his mood. "Right! I'll tend to Abeno-san and he'll be better in no time. Just you watch!"

He wet the cloth again and laid it across Abeno's forehead. Abeno shivered and suddenly Hanae remembered that he had been sweating a lot. He probably was soaked through.

"His clothes! I have to change them, or the fever will get worse." He pulled out what clothes looked biggest from his drawer and stood over Abeno. _Uh… _Hanae swallowed. He kept imagining how angry Abeno would be if he caught him stripping him down. And then suddenly his mind decided to call up the memory of them embracing to escape the astral plane. Hanae's face heated. _Maybe I shouldn't change his clothes after all. It'll probably be fine. ...Right?_

But Abeno shivered again and made a soft noise that sounded a lot like pain or discomfort and Hanae's heart lurched. _Maybe… Just change the top?_ He carefully, respectfully, and with as minimal blushing as possible carried out the deed.

Hanae breathed a sigh of relief and sagged onto the end of the bed. Now that Abeno had been taken care of, the adrenaline faded and he felt the full force of the astral trip surge back onto him. His body felt like a sandbag. He could feel the pound of his heart behind his eyes. Hanae planted the heels of his hands against the sockets and lay back against the bed. Abeno made an irritable noise when Hanae's head jounced the pillow.

"I'm not slacking," Hanae mumbled in response. "I'm just resting a sec. Then I'll get you a new compress, m'kay?" He curled onto his side and sighed. "Promise…."


	4. Youth

The bone tired sleep of post astral projection was not the restful kind. Drifting up into wakefulness was like trying to drag your body out of a rapidly moving river. The mud of exhaustion sucked at the heels of your consciousness, trying to coax you down down down until you drowned. Fortunately, Itsuki was well versed in fending off exhaustion; fatigue was the Master the of Mononokean's constant companion.

Still, he hadn't much practice with this specific brand of fatigue—this being his first foray into astral projection—so Itsuki woke slowly. He became aware of the soft warmth of the bed first. It was oversoft and overwarm and so he knew it was not his own bed. At first he wasn't even sure it was a bed. Maybe he was still trapped in some inbetween place, and his brain was doing its best approximation of a bed to try to introduce some sense of normalcy. Itsuki creaked his eyes open and…

_Ah… A dream._ Ashiya was asleep facing him, and he couldn't remember how he'd arrived at this moment, so it had to be a dream. One of the more tranquil ones, thankfully. He was too tired to face another horrible echo of Ashiya's encounter with the Executive. If he was peacefully dreaming of Ashiya, then that must mean he successfully pulled them both from the astral plane. He was in no hurry, then, to wake. The early morning sunlight peeked through the curtains, casting a gentle spotlight over Ashiya's face. Itsuki sighed softly against the pillow.

When Itsuki was very young, Aoi had taken him to a youkai festival. It had been a magnificent night of feasting, dancing, and revelry, but Itsuki couldn't remember much of what happened in the beginning and middle. He only remembered the end, when he saw a pair of fairies waltz. They were actually small youkai, of course, but they were willow limbed and dainty and so very beautiful that Itsuki was certain that fairy lore sprung from these very youkai. Small orbs of light swirled around the couple as they turned through the air, light as dandelion fuzz. They spiraled up through the sky, never parting, eyes fixed lovingly on each other's faces.

The moment was so exquisite Itsuki could hardly breathe. It wasn't just beautiful, it was redolent of _something more_, something language couldn't capture. Sometimes looking at Ashiya brought him back to that moment. He'd catch the edge of Ashiya's smile, and suddenly his chest would flood with that_ something more_ and he had to turn away to catch his breath. It was happening more and more as of late.

Ashiya was close enough now to see the soft rays catching in the fan of his lashes. His dark hair was sleep mussed on one side, and on the other it crushed up against the pillow and stuck to his cheek like ink over pale parchment. Itsuki felt the stirrings of breathless wonder in his chest. He usually checked these feelings when they seized upon him, but he gave himself some leeway in his dreams. There was no one to judge if he stared too long, no one to answer to if he reached out and combed his hand through Ashiya's hair. This morning, Itsuki allowed himself the small indulgence of running the edge of his finger along Ashiya's jawline.

Ashiya's skin was warm and soft and Itsuki's heart clattered as he realized this was Ashiya's overwarm, oversoft bed and it was most definitely not a dream. Itsuki snatched his hand back so fast he banged his elbow into the wall behind him. He smothered a hiss of pain against the pillow, but his restraint was wasted. Ashiya woke.

"Mm… Abeno-san?" Ashiya peeked open one cerulean eye. "You're awake. Thank goodness." He smiled, but it quickly morphed into a yawn. "I'm tired. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Itsuki muttered. He tried not to react too guiltily when Ashiya reached to scratch the spot on his jaw Itsuki's finger had grazed not a moment before. But again, Ashiya's eyes were closed so it was a wasted concealment. He was constantly wasting his energy doing and saying unnecessary things around this clueless boy.

"Actually," Itsuki amended, "I'm deathly tired. Someone got kidnapped and forced me to astral project and drag his astral ass back into his body."

Ashiya opened his eyes, fully awake and guilt-ridden. Itsuki meant for this precise reaction, but having successfully achieved it, he found it only made him feel petty.

"I'm sorry, Abeno-san." Ashiya picked at the blanket between them. "I don't mean to be so useless, but… I guess I can't help it; I'm just human, after all. And not even a powerful one like the Master of the Mononokean." He half laughed, a mocking, self-deprecating sound that made Itsuki's chest burn.

"You're not useless," he said gruffly, because grumpy came more comfortably to him than sadness or shame. "You did well. You used your Influence to defend yourself against the youkai. You did so well, the youkai practically begged me to send it away."

"It did?" Ashiya shifted so he could prop himself up on one arm. His brows furrowed. "I used my Influence on the youkai… I...guess I did do that, huh?"

"Right. So you weren't useless or powerless, okay? You're not. So quit acting like you are."

The corner of Ashiya's mouth quirked up. The hint of the smile read gratitude and everything in his bearing radiated pride. Ashiya was a creature of polarizing emotions, easily discouraged and just as easily heartened.

Itsuki's stomach went all squirmy, so he squirmed deeper into the bed, pulling the covers over his head. He tried not to think about how this was Ashiya's bed, about how he could actually smell Ashiya on the sheets like the scent of early spring and evening rain. And then he caught the scent of something animal. Itsuki's mouth turned down. He pulled his head out from the covers and lifted the edge of the pillow to find Fuzzy curled up there. Ashiya's face softened with affection when he looked upon the sleeping youkai.

"He was worried about you," Ashiya told him. "We all were. I even took care of your fever! And changed your shirt."

"What?" Itsuki sat up and looked down at his clothes. Indeed, his shirt was not his. It was some kind of pajama tee. His own shirt he could see hanging on a rack at the opposite end of the room.

_Did he wash it?_ Itsuki noted a half emptied water bottle, compresses, and a box of upended ibuprofen pills on the coffee table. Ashiya wasn't kidding when he said he took care of the fever. From the looks of it, he annihilated it. The fever didn't stand a chance.

"You sweated through yours," Ashiya said, still on the shirt, apparently. "It was for your health. There was nothing weird about it."

Itsuki arched an eyebrow and turned to Ashiya. He didn't think there was anything weird about him changing his shirt, but clearly Ashiya had found it awkward, and just like that it _was_ weird. But Itsuki tried not to let his head fill with imaginings of Ashiya tugging his shirt off. He sort of succeeded.

Ashiya had sat up and turned his face away, but Itsuki could see the hint of a blush reddening the tips of his ears. From the strain on the other boy's face, it was apparent he expected to be chewed out in some way, but Itsuki wasn't sure why. It looked like he had slaved away to cure Itsuki's fever and exhaustion during the night. It was no wonder he passed out in the bed with him.

Itsuki crossed his arms to try to tighten his hold on the growing affection blooming in his chest. He cleared his throat. "Thanks."

Ashiya's eyes shifted to his. His shoulders dropped in relief when he realized there wasn't going to be a lecture. "Abeno-san," he said after a moment. "There's something I'm curious about… The youkai mentioned that I could share energy with it. Like, it didn't try to take it from me at first, it said I could _give_ it energy, voluntarily. Have you ever heard of that kind of thing?"

"No. I mean, theoretically, I assume it's possible, but I've never heard of such a thing being done."

Ashiya pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I was just thinking… If I could learn how to transfer energy to you, it could be really handy. Then what happened yesterday would never happen again. And if you ever needed to open more than one door to the Underworld, I could lend you some of my energy so you're not so tired." Ashiya's excitement towards the idea grew as he worked out the uses aloud. By the time he finished, his eyes were sparkling like a sunkissed ocean. Ashiya grasped Itsuki's shoulders and squeezed. "What do you think?"

Itsuki tried to look like he was mulling over the question, but really he couldn't stop thinking about how blinding Ashiya was when excited and how unabashed it made him in his acts of skinship.

"Doesn't that sound really useful? I could be like…the Mononokean battery!"

Itsuki came back to himself and frowned. _Ah. I see._ Ashiya said "useful" again. He was still hung up on feeling like he was powerless and incapable. _I _literally _just explained that you're a great exorcist and _yet…. Quickly, the tide of affection in his heart receded and annoyance crashed into his chest.

But Itsuki stopped himself from giving a lecture. He would not rehash what he already told Ashiya, because 1) if it didn't get through the first time, it wouldn't stick the second, 2) judging by Ashiya's trepidation earlier, he thought Itsuki was always angry at him and ready to yell at the smallest thing and that was a perception Itsuki wanted to discourage, and 3) he was beginning to think this being useful and powerful business ran a lot deeper than he thought. After what happened to him with the Executive, Ashiya's sense of safety took a hard hit. This was about Ashiya feeling confident again, and Itsuki would not stand in the way of his progress.

So Itsuki put on his considering face and said, "Yeah, maybe. I'd have to look into it."

"Great!" Ashiya looked so pleased, Itsuki couldn't help but smile back. "The youkai said that in order to exchange energy, I had to want to do it. I had to lower my defenses and let it in."

"That's not creepy at all."

"That's what I said!" Ashiya laughed. "It was even weirder because it was wearing your face at the time." He paused once the words left his mouth. The smile on his face retreated and his hands withdrew from Itsuki's shoulders. Whatever he was remembering just then clearly made him nervous.

"The youkai used your likeness too," Itsuki said. "Some of the older ones can do that. It's freaking terrifying." Ashiya wrapped his arms around himself and nodded. "I'm not the youkai, in case you're wondering," Itsuki said after a moment, hoping it would make Ashiya laugh. He didn't laugh, but it teased a smile from him, which was just as well. The heavy atmosphere dispersed.

"Hanae?" They both turned toward the voice: Ashiya's mom's.

Ashiya jumped up. "Uh… Yeah, Mom?"

Itsuki really hoped she wouldn't try to come up to the room. He didn't know how they would begin to explain his presence in the house so early in the morning. Plus, he could see the tatami of the Mononokean through the crack in Ashiya's bedroom door. If his mom tried to come up, it would result in some weirdness. Ashiya darted a look at Itsuki that indicated his thoughts were along the same lines.

"I _thought_ I heard you! Breakfast is ready."

"'Kay, thanks, Mom. Be down in a minute."

Itsuki rose from the bed. "It's about time I left, anyway," he said, voice low now that he was aware they were within Ashiya's mother's earshot. "Thanks. For yesterday."

"No problem. Though, I hope we're never in that situation again."

"Yeah. Me too."

Even though, Itsuki thought, he wouldn't mind coming down with a fever once in a while if it meant Ashiya might tend to him in bed. But that was something he would have to be content to only dream of in the foreseeable future. "I'll talk to the Legislator about the energy sharing. I'll let you know what he says." Itsuki plucked his shirt from the drying rack and headed toward the door.


	5. Walla Walla

Hanae poked around the Legislator's office, but really there wasn't much to poke. The room was barren apart from the desk and a few boxes and scrolls, and they all looked the same to him: dry, inked, and official. Abeno leaned against the window, a slight frown gracing his features. Hanae would have thought he'd be angry, but he looked inconvenienced at most.

The Legislator had called on them to come visit him today, Hanae guessed to discuss his and Abeno's questions about energy transfer. Of course, when they arrived, the Legislator wasn't in (Abeno had scoffed and mumbled something related to booze and debauchery), so one of his servants led them up to the youkai's office to wait.

Tea sat on the Legislator's desk, lonely and lukewarm in their pretty porcelain cups. Abeno refused to drink his cup when first offered, and the servant hadn't mentioned if the tea was safe for a human to drink, and until he knew the answer, Hanae could only eye it ruefully. He lifted a small trinket up to the light and marveled at the iridescent ripple it cast over the floorboards. Abeno sighed.

"Maybe we should just leave," Abeno said. He glanced out at the high noon sun and sighed again.

Hanae's heart sank as he studied his friend's somber face. Abeno looked exhausted again. In fact, Abeno always looked exhausted, but before Hanae knew him well, he often mistook the fatigue for moroseness. Now that he knew him better, he could see the fraying at his edges. The role of Master of the Mononokean was one that took and took and took, and the more passionate and dedicated you were, the more of yourself you gave away. Hanae had never met someone as passionate about youkai as Abeno, and he knew the toll it must be taking on his body to be going to school and solving problems for the youkai calling on him. The balancing act he performed between the two worlds would be hard for anyone, but add into that the fact that Abeno was a sixteen-year-old human, and it was a wonder he hadn't run himself into the ground by now.

Hanae couldn't do much, but he believed that he had helped to lift some of the load off of Abeno's shoulders in the last few months. He would like to be able to do more, though. Honing his youkai-sensing abilities and training to eventually control his Influence were both ways he strived to become a complement to Abeno. If he could also serve as an energy reserve for the Master of the Mononokean…. That would be an invaluable addition to their spiritual arsenal.

"Let's wait a little longer," Hanae said, placing the trinket back in its dust-rimmed spot on the desk. "You look like you're in need of some energy." Abeno made a disgusted sound, but Hanae could see him smirking a little as he shook his head.

The door opened and the Legislator swept in. "So sorry I'm late." He strode straight across the room and stopped in front of Abeno, a lazy smile perched on his face. "I hope you weren't waiting too long."

"What do you think?" Abeno growled. "But I guess that's just typical unreliable you."

The Legislator winced. "Ouch, Itsuki… Look, I know I invited you to come, but I didn't think you'd do it so soon. You should've sent a message you were on your way."

"We're sorry. We'll do that next time," Hanae said, trying his best to lay a bandaid over the mood in the room. Abeno directed his scowl at Hanae for his weakness, but he blithely ignored this and explained, "He's angry because he's tired."

The Legislator laughed. "Yes, I can see that. And that's why you're here, is it?" He glanced between Hanae and Abeno.

Hanae stepped forward. "So is it possible? Is there a way people can pass energy to one another?"

The youkai raised an eyebrow. The smile on his face had grown a few degrees and his eyes had a keen glint in them, precisely the sheen of an inside joke. "Of course."

Hanae's limbs tingled at the confirmation. The way the Legislator said it, it seemed like it was no business at all. Even Abeno seemed to quiet his animosity and appear interested in the conversation. The Legislator pulled out his desk chair to sit and gestured for them to do the same, but since there were no extra chairs, Hanae and Abeno made themselves comfortable by sitting cross legged on the floor. The Legislator took a long stare at Hanae and then Abeno, then reached into his desk drawer. Hanae leaned forward, hoping to catch a sooner glimpse of what he would take out. Some kind of charm or amulet? An ancient text?

The Legislator, though, pulled out a long tobacco pipe and lit it. Abeno tensed beside Hanae at precisely the same moment Hanae deflated. The Legislator held up a hand. "Calm down, you two. As I said, sharing energy can definitely be done. In fact," he took a drag on his pipe, "humans do it every day, without even knowing it."

"They do?" Hanae sat up straight. "But…" He turned to Abeno, hoping he would have an idea, but the blond boy shrugged. "How?"

"Think of it this way: everything in this world—human world and Underworld—is made of energy, living things being a greater, more concentrated force. Every action committed by a living thing transmits energy. So every time you talk to someone, or touch someone, or eat, you are giving or taking energy. You follow me so far?"

Abeno tilted his head slightly and a troubled expression seeped onto his face. To Hanae, it appeared that Abeno could see where this was going, and that the act of exchanging energy was perhaps more difficult than they thought. But Hanae didn't see exactly where the trouble was yet, so he nodded at the Legislator to continue.

"There's good and bad energy, and the level at which that energy gives or takes from the person it's directed at is affected by many factors, like your relationship, your mental or physical state at the time, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. Anyway!" the Legislator enthused. "To answer your question about energy sharing with Itsuki specifically, there are all sorts of ways to improve the quality and quantity of the energy you share with each other, but they all stem from the one origin: your relationship with each other.

"Encouraging words said by your best friend or a relative obviously affect you more than if the same words were said to you by a stranger. You see what I'm getting at? The closer you two are spiritually and emotionally, the better your energy transfer. So I would say, just continue doing what you two are doing. Build up your relationship, maybe do more things as friends and not just as Master of the Mononokean and his employee if you want the process to go quicker."

_Build our relationship. _Hanae considered his and Abeno's journey up until this point. They'd grown far from the first day they met. He definitely considered Abeno a close friend—his best friend, if he really thought about it. But it was true that they didn't often do friend things. There was that one time they signed up for the photography club getaway, but even that turned into a training session and work in the end. Hanae warmed at the prospect of spending more time with Abeno to work on their connection. _But I feel like the Legislator didn't explain that part very well._

"And of course," the Legislator mused, exhaling a cloud of blue-gray smoke, "if you want to speed up the process even more, you can try to be closer physically…."

Abeno sat up ramrod straight, so fast that both the Legislator and Hanae were catapulted out of their trains of thought. "What are you saying?" Abeno's voice was a gun pointed at the Legislator.

The Legislator blinked. And then his face scrunched. "Uh… But, right. I mean, you two are, what? Fifteen? Sixteen, maybe, in human years? That's very young." He laughed, but it was much too high a sound. "So, uh, you know. At your own pace."

The menacing aura around Abeno grew stronger and Hanae frowned. He had been engrossed in his own thoughts, and had to dig through what his ear heard while his mind was distracted. _"Be closer physically"? Is that what he…?_ The nuances of the statement and Abeno's and the Legislator's panicked reactions hit him. Hanae gasped, choked on his own spit, and went into a coughing fit.

Abeno frowned at him. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah! Fine, totally fine." He waved his friend away and controlled his coughing. "I'm sure what the Legislator meant was, like, be in the same space. You know, that kind of physical. Or like, maybe hugging at most? That's probably... Right?" He looked to the Legislator and the youkai nodded rabidly.

"Yes! I meant it like that. Totally PG. So please stop trying to melt my face off with your glare, Itsuki. It's very unnerving."

"Tch." Abeno sneered and pushed himself up from the floor. "Whatever. Let's go, Ashiya."

"Already?"

"We got the answer you wanted, right?"

Hanae rose. "Well, actually… Legislator, I understand what you said about how energy is passed back and forth through words and actions, but those exchanges are unintentional, mostly. What I'm wondering is how can I give energy to Abeno-san intentionally. Is there a way I can pour energy into him when he's feeling tired, or he can pull it from me if he needs it?"

"Ah." The Legislator placed the end of his pipe between his teeth but didn't take a drag. His light eyes studied Ashiya, and whatever he saw made the corner of his mouth curl up in amusement. "You're a good kid, Ashiya-kun," he said, and then to Abeno, "You sure know how to pick 'em, Itsuki."

Abeno's hackles raised, but Hanae thought both comments sounded like compliments. Then again, the relationship between the Legislator and Abeno was always tumultuous, so it was difficult to tell if there was an undertone Hanae wasn't catching on to, or if it was merely that Abeno took offense to everything that came out of the Legislator's mouth.

"You're quite right, Ashiya-kun. The natural flow of energy is unintentional. If you want to harness energy and direct it purposefully one way or another, that's a little trickier. You have to learn to navigate your spiritual self, and also feel the energy of others. That involves one, meditation, and two, again, strengthening your relationship with the object or person in mind. You need to get to a level of...resonance."

Hanae's brows drew together. That didn't sound quite as straightforward as he originally thought. _Navigate my spiritual self? Resonate with Abeno-san?_ He wasn't sure how to do any of that. But until a few weeks ago he didn't know how to sense youkai, and he trained hard at that and now he could. If he worked hard enough, he would accomplish this too.

"Okay. I think I understand what you mean. Abeno-san, are you okay to try this together?"

Abeno didn't look convinced, but his reservations crumbled when he saw how earnestly Hanae took this task. "I guess…" he mumbled, crossing an arm over his chest.

"Perfect. How do you feel about some homework?" the Legislator said brightly. "I have an exercise you two can do now, and then I'll have my servant send along some others for you to practice on your own time."

The Legislator took a last pull on his pipe and snuffed it out. He stood and crossed the room to stand before Hanae and Itsuki. The smile he wore was innocent, but Hanae had been in the youkai's presence enough times to know that when the Legislator smiled like that, he was about to say something that pissed Abeno off. He readied himself for the explosion.

"Okay, so what I want you two to do is hug each other. Tight. For twenty seconds."

Hanae blinked at him. _Hug?_ _That's a little weird, but I kind of understand why that might…_ He glanced at Abeno and dread flooded his chest.

"I'm not doing that," Abeno said, voice tight.

"Come on, Itsuki, it'll help your bond and it's nothing friends wouldn't do. Right, Ashiya-kun?"

"That...doesn't sound so terrible."

"It's terrible," Abeno hissed.

Hanae flinched and took a step back at the force behind his words. _Does Abeno-san really hate being touched?_ _But…._ They had hugged in the astral plane and he didn't seem to mind. And they had shared a bed when he was sick and Abeno hadn't seemed angry about that. Hanae couldn't figure out where this sudden repulsion came from. He kept trying and trying to figure it out, but he couldn't.

Hanae sucked in a breath. "Why is it so terrible? We're friends, aren't we? Do you really hate the idea that much?"

"I…" Abeno balked. "Look, it's not that I hate it, I just…" He stopped again, looking flustered, and some of the offense drained out of Hanae. This wasn't just about the hugging, then. It was something else that bothered Abeno, and he had an idea of what that might be.

"Legislator," Hanae said, "can you please leave?"

"Hm? Oh." The Legislator chuckled. "Yes, of course. I'll leave you two to your bonding, then." He crossed the room and wiggled his fingers goodbye. "I'll send the other exercises along to you shortly, Itsuki!"

"There." Hanae smiled at Abeno as the door slid shut. "Better?"

"Whatever." Abeno wouldn't meet his eyes, but that was likely because his cheeks had gone pink. Hanae laughed and Abeno scowled.

"I'm going to hug you now." Hanae stepped toward him and leaned over to get a better look at his face. "Okay?"

Abeno side-eyed him. "...Okay."

Despite his agreement, Abeno didn't look like he planned to make any moves to participate, so Hanae just went for it and embraced him, arms and all. Hanae hadn't hugged anyone other than his mother in years, and he realized now what a shame that was. It felt good to hold Abeno tight against his chest. His kimono was silky smooth under Hanae's hands and he was very warm. Hanae's neck tickled where Abeno's breath feathered over it and he had to press his lips together to keep himself from laughing.

"Your heart's beating really fast," Hanae said.

"Shut up," Abeno growled, and then a moment later, "Yours isn't."

"I feel really relaxed, actually. I feel so close to you right now!"

"Ugh. Stop."

Hanae chuckled. "Mm… I forgot to count. Do you think it's been twenty seconds?"

"...No." Abeno shifted to slide his hands around the small of Hanae's back.

Hanae's stomach clenched. He remembered when they stood like this in the astral plane, how when Abeno held him back and looked him in the eyes everything suddenly felt like it was much more than it was the second before. It felt that way now. And Hanae understood now that the Legislator was right about energy. When Hanae was the only person hugging, the only one giving his energy, he felt happy and warm and calm. Now that Abeno was reciprocating, Hanae felt happy but hot and nervous. He realized he was explicitly aware of every place their bodies touched.

He shivered when Abeno turned his head and his hair grazed the side of Hanae's neck. "Now your heart is beating fast," Abeno said. His voice was low. Inquisitive. Smug, maybe. Hanae couldn't tell exactly without seeing his face, but he was afraid to look. Everything felt hypersensitive right then, and he didn't know what would happen if he was feeling all this and also looking into Abeno's eyes.

"Uh…" Hanae cleared his throat. "I think it's been twenty seconds."

Still, he didn't move.

After a moment, Abeno did. His hands dropped from Hanae's waist and Hanae mastered himself enough to unsnake his arms from around Abeno. They took a step back, and the room felt instantly cooler.

"That was nice," Hanae murmured. Abeno mumbled something back that sounded like agreement. Neither one looked at the other.

"I guess," Abeno said, "we'll do stuff like this more from now on. Are you sure you want to go forward with this energy thing?"

Hanae hazarded a peek at his expression and found that Abeno was looking at him too. His heart pounded noisily. Something in the shine of Abeno's golden eyes looked hopeful to him, but maybe Hanae was projecting. And if he was projecting, what did that mean?

"Yes," he said.

Abeno nodded, and Hanae had a dizzying sensation of toeing the edge of something bigger than himself. He couldn't put words to what it might be, but he knew it was much more than what they had.


	6. Pools

"I hate you," Itsuki wheezed.

Ashiya pouted as Itsuki came towards him around home plate. "Aw, don't be like that, Abeno-san. Only a few more laps!"

_Only a few more laps,_ Itsuki mocked in his head, but he only had enough energy for that much snark, because he was going to throw up his heart in a second.

It had been a week since their meeting with the Legislator and Itsuki was beginning to realize how seriously Ashiya took this energy thing. The moment Itsuki handed him the list of the Legislator's "relationship building" exercises, Ashiya jumped right in. Most of the entries were harmless and quick: do a trust fall! Buy each other presents! Go to the movies! And then there were ones like this that were meant to practice the actual energy exchanging, this particular exercise being _literal exercise._

Itsuki was expected to run around the baseball field until he felt like he would die and then Ashiya would try to revitalize him. Itsuki could clearly picture the Legislator laughing maniacally as he wrote the task and he cursed him for it. But whenever he was about to tell Ashiya to forget this whole mad idea and lay off trying to run him to death, he remembered Ashiya's brilliant smile when he talked about sharing his energy, and Itsuki shut his mouth and ran another lap.

Eventually, though, he couldn't manage another lap, and when he met his limit, he wobbled into the grass and collapsed in sloppy heap on the ground. May had just begun and it was warm. Not so warm that one would sweat if they were going about their day like a normal person, but since Itsuki was sprinting like a fool around a baseball diamond at high noon, he was sweating.

Ashiya waltzed over, looking and smelling like a fresh bloom of Forget-me-nots, and plopped down beside him. "You look tired," he said, smiling like a loon. "Water?"

Itsuki leered at him. He took the bottle Ashiya offered him and poured half of it down his throat. Then he laid back in the grass and closed his eyes.

"I'll give you a minute to catch your breath."

"Gee, thanks," Itsuki muttered.

He focused on controlling the rapid rise and fall of his chest. It took a while, since his heart was going so fast every breath he drew in rattled, but eventually his breathing slowed to a more manageable rhythm. Ashiya must have been waiting patiently and listening closely, because the moment Itsuki resumed breathing normally he was talking again.

"Are you ready?"

Itsuki opened one eye to peer at him. Yup, still smiling. And now Itsuki felt like he understood something about Ashiya: The blue-eyed boy was so near bursting with energy all the time, it was no wonder he was in a hurry to push it into someone else. Itsuki closed his eye and feigned sleep.

"Abeno-san," Ashiya growled. "Come on, sit up. You can't rest. If you rest, you'll feel better, and then we won't know if the energy transfer worked." Ashiya tugged on his arm. Itsuki groaned but allowed himself to be pulled into a sitting position. Ashiya shifted around to face him. "Hands," he prompted.

Itsuki made a face but held his hands out, palms up, and Ashiya placed his hands on top of them so that they were palm to palm. When they did these energy sharing exercises, Itsuki always made a point of kicking up a fuss in the beginning. That way, he could pretend to be cowed later and spend the rest of the time enjoying Ashiya's undivided attention with zero suspicion. Any day that featured practicing energy transfer was an especially great day for this strategy, because those usually involved physical contact.

Ashiya closed his eyes to meditate on the task, giving Itsuki leave to stare at his face with impunity. Ashiya's face and name complemented each other perfectly, and this fact never struck Itsuki as more true than when he watched Ashiya among nature. The sunlight seemed to bend to him, warming his hair to a blue-black luster and illuminating the soft planes of his face. When Itsuki was young, Aoi used to pet his head and tell him he looked like he was born of all the best parts of the sun, but Itsuki had always felt more kinship with the moon, cool and lonely as it was. Ashiya, though… Ashiya was a sunbeam personified.

Ashiya creaked an eye open and Itsuki schooled his expression into blankness. "Feel anything?"

_Oh, what a loaded question_, Itsuki thought wryly. But he answered the way Ashiya meant it when he said, "Nothing. Except tired. I might fall asleep on you."

A hiss of disappointment pushed past Ashiya's lips. Itsuki wished there was some quantifiable way to measure whether they were making progress or just spinning their wheels. Ashiya wanted this to work so badly, and Itsuki wanted it to work if only to have him feel proud of the accomplishment.

"How about I give it a try?" he asked.

"Hm? You mean you want me to run a million times around the diamond so you can try giving me energy?" Ashiya's mouth twisted. "Because that sounds like revenge."

"If that's revenge, then making me do it in the first place was torture."

"I didn't make the list," Ashiya sniffed, "I just followed it."

Itsuki huffed and shook his head. "Anyway, no. I meant, what if I tried taking the energy from you?"

"Oh…" Ashiya considered this. "Yeah, okay, let's try that. How would we…?"

"What if we just…?" Itsuki carefully took Ashiya's hands and held them. "It'll be better like this, since it makes a circuit," he said, and in that moment, he discovered he possessed a talent for spouting absolute bullshit and making it sound like a legitimate reason.

Ashiya nodded along and replied, "That makes sense," and Itsuki died a little inside. Sometimes he felt very much like a wolf slavering over an unsuspecting lamb.

"Alright," Ashiya declared. "So I just let down my mind defenses and you reach in and… Um…" His cheeks turned pink. "And then you, um, take the energy? Or something?"

Itsuki raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Ashiya laughed. "My mind went somewhere, and—" His face flushed and he stopped laughing and talking all at once. Wherever his mind went, he clearly realized it was not a place he wanted to invite Itsuki.

_Well,_ Itsuki thought, feeling a little smug,_ maybe the lamb isn't as innocent as I thought. _

"Anyway," Ashiya continued, clearing his throat, "I'm back. Ready when you are."

Itsuki tightened his grip on the other boy's hands. He had managed to maneuver the situation to his liking, but he couldn't forget that this meant more to Ashiya than sneaking snatches of intimacy. Since he had worked as Aoi's assistant in the years before her death, he had some spiritual training in regard to energy, chakras, and the meridians. He definitely had more experience than Ashiya, who by all rights was still an amateur at exorcism, albeit a gifted one. So if anyone was going to break this bottleneck it would be him.

_Please work._

If he could isolate Ashiya's energy and visualize it well enough, theoretically, he could take hold of and manipulate it. Itsuki focused on where their hands wrapped around each other, trying to parse the places where skin met skin and their energies intermingled. He imagined that there were threads sewn between them, and he just had to locate the right one and pull in order to unravel the whole thing.

A pulse raced down his arm and Itsuki followed it to a thread that felt warmer than the others. _There?_ Cautiously, he plucked it. Ashiya's Influence flared around his hand and Itsuki snatched his own hands back. The Influence didn't hurt, and could not hurt him since he was human, but it was a knee-jerk reaction to the suddenness of its manifestation.

Ashiya gaped down at his hand as the Influence dispersed. "You did it… The circuit worked! How'd you do it?"

Itsuki tried to explain the visualization to Ashiya. "I'm not sure exactly how it works, though… And I didn't transfer anything."

"Try again." Ashiya laced his fingers in Itsuki's. "It's gotta work. We're so close!"

Itsuki focused as he did before. This time it was easier to find the threads of Ashiya's energy, but when he tried to draw them toward himself, they stretched but didn't flow. He tugged a few more times and Ashiya's brow furrowed.

"Can you feel what I'm doing?" Itsuki asked carefully, trying to split his attention between talking and meditating so as not to lose the connection.

"I…" Ashiya frowned. "I'm not sure. My hands feel warm and there's a little bit of tingling down my fingers, but—Aw, man..."

Itsuki lost focus and the energy threads he'd been working on snapped back to Ashiya, once again triggering his Influence. Itsuki huffed, but kept hold of Ashiya's hands this time as the Influence burned itself out. "Well," he said drily, "we figured out how to activate your Influence on command."

Ashiya smiled ruefully at him. "Maybe it's my fault."

"No, it's me. The energy is accessible, you're doing your part, but I can't get it to flow toward me. Maybe my visualization is off… What are you doing? To lower your defenses?"

"Hm? Oh, well…" Ashiya tilted his head and considered a moment. "I don't really know. I mean, I'm not really _doing_ anything. I don't have to do much because I already trust you. I don't have any defenses to lower because they're already down, you know?"

Itsuki's cheeks prickled. "You…" _Is he doing this on _purpose?_ Am I somehow being played like a fool and he knows how I feel and he's torturing me? I mean, _come on! "You're so—" Itsuki tried to throw out a hand to gesture at a meaning his words couldn't reach and realized he couldn't because his hands were still linked with Ashiya's. He blew out a breath and looked away.

Ashiya grinned. "But, actually," he continued, "I was thinking something while you were working a second ago. I was thinking 'transfer energy, transfer energy' over and over really hard and shooting the thoughts at you."

Itsuki stared blankly at Ashiya's smiling face. _It's official: I've fallen for the stupidest, most beautiful boy in the world._

"Okay…" Itsuki drawled, trying to think the situation through logically. "So, in a way, you are meditating and visualizing. And it seems to be working, at least partly, because I'm able to manipulate your energy." He stared down at their interlaced fingers and wondered whether it actually did make a difference, even if his motive was impure. "Let's try it again, but go back to you trying to feed the energy into me. And do what you were doing before, with the thinking 'transfer energy' stuff."

"Got it." Ashiya's face burned with determination as he glared down at their hands. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Ashiya squeezed his eyes shut and Itsuki changed his visualization. He imagined now that his hands really were a circuit and conduits ran up his arms. He imagined flipping a switch and throwing the conduits wide open.

Itsuki and Ashiya gasped at the same time. A flood of warmth shot up Itsuki's arms. Energy poured into his chest and exploded out to his limbs, tingling like starbursts. His head felt light and his thoughts went fuzzy as everything around him shuddered into sharper focus. He could the sunlight on the grass, hear the whoosh of a bird's wings above them, see the flecks of silver around the irises of Ashiya's eyes as they snapped open.

"It worked," Ashiya breathed.

Itsuki grinned at him and part of his mind fluttered in confusion, because he couldn't remember _grinning_ at anyone before—or, at least, not in a long time. But everything in that moment was brilliant and real and so exquisitely _good_.

Then Ashiya pitched forward into his lap.

"Ashiya?" Itsuki disentangled his hands pushed Ashiya up. He was out cold—literally out and growing cold. Itsuki's heart hammered in his chest.

"You idiot!" he gasped, because he didn't know how else to express how terrified he was. Itsuki cradled Ashiya's head in his hands, flattening his palms against his neck. _Transfertransfer_transfergoddammit! He pushed frantically at the energy coursing through his body and the tingling warmth in Itsuki's arms raced down his fingers and sunk into Ashiya's skin.

Ashiya jerked and seized a huge gulp of air. "A… Abeno-san? What happened?"

"You _idiot_! You weren't supposed to transfer _all of your energy_!"

"I…" Ashiya blinked up at him and swallowed. "I didn't mean to…"

"You were unconscious! You were cold! You could've gotten really hurt, and I don't know what the hell I'm doing or if I could transfer the energy back, you complete—!" Itsuki grit his teeth. His whole body shook.

"Abeno-san." Ashiya placed a hand over Itsuki's and sat up. "I'm really sorry… I'm okay. Please don't cry."

"I'm not crying!" But Itsuki's breaths trembled and his face burned. He swiped at his eyes. "Forget this. We are never doing this again." He pushed himself up out of the grass.

"Wait! Abeno-san!" Ashiya scrambled up after him. "It's only because I'm still new at this! It worked, the energy transfer worked." He gripped Itsuki's sleeve, trying to hold him in place. "If we just practiced some more, I know I could do it right."

"No." Itsuki swung around and grabbed Ashiya by the front of his shirt. "I _will not_ lose you, Ashiya Hanae. Do you hear me? Not for anything. No. More. Energy. Transfers."

Ashiya stared back at him with wide, shocked eyes. "Abeno-san..."

Itsuki released Ashiya's shirt and walked away.


	7. Intruxx

The temple was beautiful this time of year. The bushes were green and lush throughout the garden and the early morning sun cast lazy rays over a line of tulips Zenko's father had planted around the entrance. Or maybe Zenko herself planted them. She seemed to be deeply involved in the landscaping, if Hanae's introduction to her was anything to go by.

Hanae laid back on the deck of the temple. The light breeze teased strands of his hair into his face, tickling his forehead and ears. He sighed and brushed them away.

"Hanae?"

Hanae dropped his hands and turned his head to Zenko. She stood above him with a tray of green tea in her hands.

"Sorry I took so long," she said and carefully lowered herself to the wooden floor. She was wearing a light cotton shirt and shorts, which made her look both younger and older at the same time. It was a flattering effect either way.

"You look nice," Hanae commented, pushing himself up. "Are you going out later?"

Zenko smiled softly and handed him a steaming cup of tea. "What did you want to talk about?"

Hanae dropped his gaze and passed the warm chinaware back and forth in his hands. "It's about Abeno-san. We had a fight."

"Mm." Zenko sipped her drink. "Go on."

"I'm sorry to come to you just so I can whine, but I didn't know who else to go to, and you're… You're always so calm, so I thought maybe you could help explain what made Abeno-san so mad, so I can fix it."

"...Okay. What happened exactly?"

"Alright, so we went after a youkai last month and I learned that there was a way to transfer energy between two people. We were practicing the other day, and we were trying and trying and it wasn't working, but then it _did_work, but I messed up and transferred all my energy to Abeno-san accidently."

Zenko continued to sip her tea, her large dark eyes watching him with fawnlike focus.

"I passed out for maybe five seconds, but when I woke up, Abeno-san was crying and yelling at me and he said he never wants to practice energy transfer again. And I'm just a little confused..."

Hanae stared into the steaming tea. I mean, he understood partly. It must have been scary for Abeno to see him pass out like that, but they had righted the situation quickly and he hadn't been hurt, so he didn't see why they had to call the whole endeavor off.

Hanae sighed and placed his tea down on the ground next to him, finally owning up to the fact that he wasn't going to drink it. "Abeno-san's never yelled at me like that before. It was just a mistake; I make mistakes all the time. I don't understand why this time was so much worse."

"Hm." Zenko lowered her own cup, now emptied, and placed it aside. "Energy transfer, huh?" She stared out at the tulips swaying in the breeze. "And you said Abeno cried?"

Hanae nodded.

"It's probably because he was so disappointed in you," rang a voice from behind them.

Hanae and Zenko twisted around to see Yahiko hovering in the doorway. He held a popsicle and it was dripping a line of orange down his hand. He raised the popsicle to his mouth and caught a drop of the melted juice with his tongue as it fell from his fingers.

"Yahiko," Zenko intoned. "I told you no snacks until you finished sweeping."

"I finished sweeping."

"The whole temple? In the five minutes since I asked you? You're very fast."

"I'm a powerful youkai." Yahiko shoved the rest of the popsicle into his orange-smeared mouth and flashed his canines. Hanae shook his head at the little youkai's attitude, but Zenko appeared unmoved.

"Okay," she said with a shrug. "Then go add mulch to the garden."

"Hah? Why?" Yahiko whined. "That's so _boring_. I wanna stay here and talk about Haruitsuki. Or we could play together!"

"No. This is a private conversation. Go put mulch on the garden."

"I don't wanna!"

"Yahiko."

The little fox snarled at her. Hanae flinched, but Zenko just stared and stared, patient as a stone Buddha. Yahiko turned with a low hiss and stomped back into the temple. Zenko didn't raise her voice once, and yet she had absolute command of the situation from beginning to end. Hanae marveled at her abilities. She would make a fantastic parent some day.

Zenko turned back to Hanae and continued as though they'd never been interrupted. "I don't think Abeno's reaction had anything to do with your mistake. I think this is about something else."

"Something else?"

"Can you tell me everything that happened between you and Abeno? Start from the youkai."

Hanae described the encounter with the ancient youkai, how he'd fought with Abeno before he was attacked and forced into the astral plane, how the youkai pretended to be Abeno and told him about energy transfer. Then he related the meeting with the Legislator to Zenko—he had to go on a tangent to explain the Underworld hierarchy—and the hug, and the list they were given. When he got to the energy transfer incident, Hanae tried to explain each moment in detail, recalling their conversation and paraphrasing Abeno's dialogue where he couldn't remember exact quotes.

"And then he grabbed my shirt," Hanae mimed the action with a scowl meant to mimic Abeno's, "and said, _I won't lose you. Not for anything. No more transfers!_Then he walked away and hasn't answered any of my texts since."

Zenko's face took on a deeper quality of thoughtfulness than was usual. "I see."

"You know why he was mad," Hanae guessed.

"Abeno wasn't mad, Hanae. He was scared."

"Yeah, I know… But…" Hanae folded his arms. "I don't know. I feel like Abeno is always mad at me. He's always yelling at me and making mean comments—and then sometimes he's really nice and encouraging. It's confusing.

"And this energy thing! He agreed to do it, and now he's giving up when we finally got it to work? Just because I made one little mistake, that I _said_I'd fix. I've practiced, I know what to do now, but he—" Hanae glared at a butterfly that drifted by. "It's just really frustrating how Abeno-san keeps flip flopping."

Zenko pressed her mouth into a thin line.

"What?" Hanae demanded. "If you know something, Zenko, just tell me, because you look like you know something."

"I'm not sure it's my place…" As she spoke, Zenko traced the grooves in the wood absently with the tip of her finger. "But… Let's do this: Do you ever read manga?"

"Manga? Yeah, I've read some."

"Have you ever read _Tsuredzure_?"

"Oh yeah! The one about the high schooler who moonlights as a spy!"

"That's the one. And do you remember the character Tsukina? She was always so mean to Shota, but she never meant what she said."

"Well, yeah. That's because she's tsundere."

Zenko snapped her fingers. The sound was so sudden coming from someone as quiet as her that Hanae startled.

"Exactly," Zenko said, matter of fact. "Now, let's pretend for a second that Abeno is Tsukina and you're Shota. Abeno is a tsundere, so when he's mean to you…" She paused, and by the time Hanae realized she meant for him to fill in the blank she had already begun talking again. "It doesn't mean he hates you, it means the opposite."

"So, when Abeno-san gets mad, he's actually…"—_What's the opposite of mad? Happy? That doesn't seem right._—_"_not mad at me?" Hanae finished in a tiny voice.

A small, tight smile infiltrated Zenko's thus far impassive face. "Look, Hanae, I'm not sure if Abeno would want me to—" She went still all of a sudden.

The hairs rose on the back of Hanae's neck. "What is it?" He didn't hear anything. But then he realized he didn't hear _anything_. His eyes widened. He had been completely engaged in their conversation and hadn't been aware of much else, but now that he paid attention, he sensed Yahiko's presence.

Zenko looked out at the bushes, then glanced at the door behind them. She frowned and looked down at the floor. "Yahiko. I know you're under the deck. Come out."

Nothing happened for a moment, but then Hanae heard shuffling beneath the floorboards. A small, burnished gold fox's head peeped over the edge of the deck. "Are you sure you don't have exorcist powers?" Yahiko asked Zenko.

"I don't. You're just predictable. Eavesdropping is rude."

Yahiko groaned. "Come on, Zenko. Can you two _please_stop talking? Let's _play_already!" Every vowel elongated into a peevish wail. The youkai hopped up onto the deck, threw himself into Zenko's lap, and started rolling back and forth like a tantruming child. "Let's play, Zenko!"

"No. You're being a brat."

Yahiko stopped writhing around and glared at the girl with slitted pupils. "I wanna play, I wanna play, I **_want to play!_**" He began to grow in size and volume with each scream.

"Enough." Zenko pushed Yahiko out of her lap. He thumped onto the floorboards and quieted abruptly.

Hanae's jaw dropped. He had never seen Yahiko handled thus before, and he felt a terrible storming energy wafting off the youkai.

Deaf and blind to demonic signals, Zenko continued, "If you're done with the garden too, go fix the shōji. My dad thinks tanuki are trying to invade the temple, but I know you've been using the edges to sharpen your claws."

Smoke billowed around Yahiko's fox form, and when it cleared, he had returned to his childlike appearance. He stood up and fisted his little hands. There were petulant tears glistening at the corners of his eyes when he whirled on Zenko. "I hate you!"

Yahiko jumped off the deck and disappeared around the corner of the temple. Hanae blew out a breath.

"Zenko? Are you okay?" Having been on the receiving end of Yahiko's fits of rage many times, he knew they always hurt, even if you suspected he didn't mean what he said.

"I'm fine. And you will be too." Zenko laid a hand on Hanae's shoulder and gave him a delicate smile. "You're a smart guy, Hanae. You have all the context clues; I know you can figure out what Abeno can't bring himself to tell you."

"I… What?"

Hanae blinked at her, hoping for more clarification, but Zenko collected the teacups onto her tray and stood. "You should get going. My father will be home soon."

Hanae paled at the mention of Zenko's father. He was pretty sure the man hated him. Probably because he thought Hanae would steal Zenko away or some nonsense like that. Zenko began to move towards the interior of the temple.

"Wait!" Hanae threw a hand out at her and she paused. "I'm not as smart as you think. I don't know if I can figure it out on my own. Can't you just tell me?" He met his hands together in supplication, but his plea bounced off Zenko's sangfroid.

"I can't. It isn't my place. But you could always ask Abeno yourself."

And with that, Zenko disappeared into the temple. Hanae dropped his hands and sighed. He hadn't received any of the answers he'd hoped to glean, but it had helped to talk out the situation with someone who wasn't in the middle of it. Zenko had a focusing effect on him; everything suddenly seemed smaller and more manageable under her tranquil gaze.

_Alright then… I'll just talk to Abeno-san, I he ever answers my calls. _Hanae drew in a steadying breath.

"I know Haruitsuki's secret."

Hanae released his breath in a sharp scream and fell sideways. He slapped a hand over his ear and barked, "Don't_do_that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Yahiko opened his mouth wide and laughed, leaving his rows of sharp, not-quite-child's teeth on full display. "Do you want to know?" he lilted, circling around to Hanae's front.

Hanae paused. It was probably a trick—or a game. He knew better than to entertain promises from a fox demon. And yet… "What's the catch?"

"No catch." Yahiko dropped into a crouch and grinned. "Just rock-paper-scissors."

Hanae arched an eyebrow. Tempting. Rock-paper-scissors wasn't hard, and it was pretty equally matched. He couldn't imagine how Yahiko could cheat the outcome, and Yahiko hadn't stated a penalty if he lost. Hanae had everything to gain on this gamble.

"Just rock-paper-scissors? No tricks?" he asked, trying to bind the youkai to his promise with a significant look.

"Yes, yes. So? Will you play?"

Hanae fisted his hand and raised it up. "Best two out of three."

"Out of five."

"Three," Hanae repeated. He tried to channel some of Zenko's authority. It seemed to work, because Yahiko begrudgingly agreed. "Rock, paper...scissors!" Hanae threw out paper.

Yahiko cackled as he pretended to snip Hanae's hand with his scissor fingers. Hanae hissed under his breath and they set up again. This time Hanae threw paper and Yahiko threw rock.

"Hah!" he cheered before he could stop himself. Yahiko scowled.

They lined up for the last bout. Hanae bit his lower lip. If he won this one, he could win the secret to Abeno. He had to win.

_What's it gonna be? _He watched Yahiko's slitted eyes, trying to see into his mind, and the youkai leered back. _Rock, paper, or scissors?_They cast their final moves. Hanae stared down at Yahiko's fingers, triumphantly formed into scissors.

"I…" Hanae glanced at his own hand, "win! Rock smashes scissors!" He punched the air with his fist. "That means you have to tell me—"

Yahiko snarled and leapt at him. Hanae slammed backward onto the deck, pinned under Yahiko's small, but not insubstantial weight.

"No fair," Hanae gasped. "Don't be a sore loser." Yahiko beared his teeth and lowered his head toward Hanae's face. "Hey! Don't you dare bite—!"

"Haruitsuki's in love with you," Yahiko purred against his ear.

Hanae went limp. _What._

Yahiko sat back. His eyes were wide open and glowing red, a perfect devilish complement to his vicious grin. "He's always been. You're just too stupid to see it."

"No… You… You're…" Hanae tried to form a contradiction, but every time his tongue dried and stuck before he could get past a syllable.

He remembered Abeno's tear streaked face. _I _will not _lose you, Ashiya Hanae. Do you hear me? Not for anything._

He remembered the pressure of Abeno's hands on the small of his back, the heat of Abeno's breath on his neck when he murmured, _Now your heart is beating fast._

Hanae recalled a hundred half-caught looks and a dozen muttered comments that now rearranged themselves into a completely different picture than what he'd seen before.

_Abeno-san…loves me?_

Hanae stared up into the blue sky so long he didn't even notice when Yahiko slipped off his chest and skipped back into the temple.


	8. Flip

Itsuki hefted his grocery bag higher on his shoulder. Every day he had to go shopping he regretted that he couldn't take the Mononokean to and from the store. Unfortunately, he had been caught trying to go into supply closets and employee-only doors one too many times. If he was caught again, the manager at the local grocery warned him he would be banned. And so he walked back home with these massive reusable grocery bags like the normal human he was, but didn't want to be.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and Itsuki knew it could only be Ashiya. He only had three contacts on his phone—Ashiya, Fusshi, and Saga—and the only reason he had the two others' numbers was because they'd been foisted on him. He received a group text from Saga and Fusshi only during the school year, specifically for lunchtime errands. Therefore, no one but Ashiya would be texting him on a weekend.

Also, Ashiya had been texting and calling him nonstop since the incident a week ago. Fortunately, Itsuki had never told him where he lived, so all Ashiya could do was text and call; as long as Itsuki stayed away, Ashiya couldn't get to him. He pawed in his pocket and managed to slide the phone out.

**We need to talk**.

He could feel the annoyance wafting from the text. Itsuki blew out a breath. He knew they needed to talk, but he couldn't muster up the courage yet. Not after the way he completely freaked out and threw everything he had been building with Ashiya out the window. Although, he didn't regret putting a stop to the energy transfer project.

A chill trickled down Itsuki's spine as he remembered Ashiya laying cold and limp in his arms. It was a scene straight out of his nightmares, except in his nightmares the Executive was to blame. The reality was so much worse, because it was Itsuki's fault. He was Ashiya's employer, the Master of the Mononokean, expert on all things spiritual and supernatural. He was supposed to keep Ashiya safe. But he failed.

Ashiya was eager and inexperienced, and he didn't fully understand sometimes the forces he was dabbling in. It was Itsuki's fault he collapsed funneling all of his life force into him. He should've warned Ashiya about the dangers, or not allowed Ashiya to be the giver without proper practice. But even then it would have been a dangerous undertaking, because Itsuki himself was not well trained in these kinds of practices. He knew the Underworld and youkai inside and out, but when it came to human interaction, he was cripplingly deficient. He had been stupid enough to think he could feign competence and everything would be fine. That was his second failure. If he hadn't acted quickly and been incredibly lucky, the cost of his hubris would have been Ashiya's life.

The phone buzzed again and Itsuki's shoulders sagged. Ashiya wanted to yell at him and fight to try the energy transfer again, but he couldn't face another failure, not when it put his and Ashiya's lives at risk. He would study up on energy transfer and revisit the matter once he felt confident, and not a single moment before.

But, he knew that he couldn't look into Ashiya's angry, pleading face and not feel guilty, so, for the first time in his life, Itsuki was hiding from a confrontation. _I just have to not see him for...a while._ His chest ached, but he told himself it had to be done. He had lived alone before,when the only other person he loved left him.

Itsuki checked the second message.

**You can't keep avoiding me (****ﾒ****ﾛ****´)**

He stared down at the kaomoji and couldn't decide if its usage was meant to be lighthearted or was an escalation of Ashiya's fury. He was leaning toward the latter. There was something ominous about the face, cutesy though it was.

He switched the grocery bag to his other shoulder and decided to take a detour to buy curry bread from the stall in the park. After his fight with Ashiya and his subsequent vow to not see or talk to him, Itsuki discovered he had a tendency to stuff the hole in his heart by stuffing his face. This was a new development in his personality that he decided to blame on Ashiya, who was an unabashed foodie.

The park was well populated due to the temperate weather. Older couples huddled like lovebirds on the benches as grandchildren ran amok and teens chattered excitedly with one another about summer plans. Itsuki ignored all these in pursuit of his bread. He had to change course to get around a gaggle of preteens who decided they owned that portion of the park, as preteens were apt to do.

When he came out on the other side of the group of children, Itsuki stopped dead in his tracks. The bread stall stood where it had always been, smelling seductively of fresh baked goods, and in front of it was Ashiya Hanae. Not only was Ashiya in front of Itsuki's bread stall, but he was leaning on the wall and glaring directly at Itsuki, as if he had been waiting for him to show up.

_How did he find me?_

Itsuki didn't know what to do. Was it cowardly to turn around and make a run for it? Yes, most definitely. But did he want to do just that? Yes, most definitely. Ashiya made the first move though, and it was in Itsuki's direction. Despite the stern look on Ashiya's face, he walked slowly, which was somehow scarier. Itsuki stayed put.

"Here," Ashiya said, and tossed something in an arc toward him.

Itsuki caught it. It was a package of curry bread. "...How?"

"Don't you think I know what kind of bread you like? I buy you lunch half the time."

"Right_…._"Itsuki stared at the bread, trying to buy time.

"You don't have to avoid me," Ashiya said, voice tight. "Now who's the five year old?" Itsuki flinched. He hated how weak it made him feel, but it apparently helped take some of the edge off of Ashiya's anger, because his voice softened when he spoke again. "I get it, Abeno-san. I know why you reacted the way you did."

Itsuki hazarded a look at Ashiya. The tautness in his shoulders had dropped. His blue eyes were concerned. He didn't look at all angry and Itsuki felt terrible and selfish for freezing him out.

"I know—" Ashiya halted and bit his lip. Itsuki's stomach squirmed. The expression on Ashiya's face was complicated and uncertain and Itsuki had no doubt it was his doing. "I know you were scared," Ashiya managed after a moment. "So was I, okay? I'm sorry. But I don't want to fight anymore. Can't we just make up already?"

Ashiya took a step forward and held out his hands in a peace offering. Itsuki's gaze darted from Ashiya's hands to his hopeful eyes. His defenses shuddered. He didn't want to fight anymore either. He didn't want to keep avoiding Ashiya and starving them both of the closeness they both felt and desired. And Ashiya hadn't mentioned revisiting the energy sharing.

"You don't need to apologize." Itsuki sighed and slipped the curry bread into his grocery bag. "It was my fault. I'm sorry—for not being better prepared, and for acting like a jerk and avoiding you."

Ashiya smiled. "No problem. So, no hard feelings?" He lifted his arms a bit higher and beckoned for a hug.

Itsuki blinked at him, but he should have expected something like this. Ashiya had always been one to express himself affectionately; his openness was part of the reason Itsuki fell for him. Hugging did not come naturally to Itsuki, so his heart fluttered at the prospect. He put his grocery bag down and walked cautiously into the embrace.

Ashiya was a great hugger. Too many people went through the motions of a hug without putting any intention behind it, and a hug was not restorative unless you meant it. Ashiya always meant it. Today he really meant it. He wrapped his arms tight around Itsuki's waist and curled his hands up to rest on his upper back. And then Ashiya's face pressed into the crook of his neck.

Itsuki stiffened. "Erm… Ashiya?" His mind fuzzed in instant fluster.

"I'm sorry, Abeno-san," Ashiya murmured against his collarbone.

"It's ok—" The words froze in Itsuki's throat. His head was more than just fuzzy now, it felt light and floaty, and so did his body. "Ashiya!"

He tried to jerk out of the embrace, but his legs wobbled beneath him. Ashiya clung to him tighter, supporting Itsuki's weight as the energy ebbed out of him and flowed into Ashiya where his cheek pressed against Itsuki's skin.

Itsuki remembered in that moment the youkai he'd encountered in the astral plane, how he had assumed Ashiya's likeness and tried to cozy up to him. He never imagined the real Ashiya would take advantage of him in the same way. His chest ached, with hurt and betrayal and confusion.

"Stop right now or I _swear to god _I will kill you," Itsuki snarled. By now his body felt so weak he couldn't even summon the energy to turn his head, but he felt Ashiya flinch.

Ashiya's voice was steady, though, when he replied, "My defenses are down too, Abeno-san. You can take the energy back."

Itsuki knew this was a test, and he was so indignant and humiliated he wanted to seize the challenge, but beneath that anger lay the old fear and uncertainty. He hadn't practiced enough to feel comfortable playing with Ashiya's energy again.

"Damn you, Ashiya," Itsuki hissed yet more venomously.

"Look, I have a reason for doing this, just"—Ashiya began to drag him toward an open bench—"give me a chance." Some people walking by glanced at them in concern, but Japan was a hands-off culture and no one got involved in other people's business unless absolutely necessary.

Ashiya dumped him on the bench and Itsuki lay there and glared as Ashiya ran back to retrieve the abandoned grocery bag. His body felt like the muscles and veins had been filled with sand, but his mind was firing on all cylinders.

"I know you're angry," Ashiya started, nudging the grocery bag against Itsuki's feet.

"That's an understatement."

"But I _had_ to do it this way. You know I had to. You were avoiding me and I need to talk to you, and I was afraid that if I didn't make you sit down and listen to everything I have to say, then you'd just keep on ignoring me."

He was babbling. It seemed that now that he had successfully pulled off his deception, Ashiya realized just how terrible and mutinous the act had been. Ashiya began to pace. Itsuki watched him with the simmering rage of a caged panther.

"I have a few things I need to talk to you about. The first is, I can do energy transfer just fine! See," he gestured to Itsuki's slumped form, "I just did it to you, and I had perfect control. It's not dangerous anymore—I practiced all week! With my mom, with Zenko, and Saga and Fusshi. I mean, most of them didn't know I was practicing on them, but the point is, I didn't make a single mistake. What happened last weekend will never happen again, so you don't have to be afraid anymore."

Ashiya stopped pacing and watched Itsuki earnestly.

"This was not the way to go about proving yourself."

Ashiya ducked his head, looking like a kicked puppy. "I know. I wasn't… I just wanted to talk to you. I needed you to understand how hard I worked, and I thought you'd never believe me if I didn't _show _you I could do it. And there's another thing I wanted to talk to you about… And it's better asked in person..." He wrung his hands, leaving irritated strips behind where his fingers raked the skin. "The way you act around me, Abeno-san… I was wondering if you… Um..." Ashiya paused and glanced at him, and the anger in Itsuki's chest turned to dread.

_Oh no. He didn't… He hasn't…_ His mouth went dry.

"I... I was wondering if you're tsundere," Ashiya blurted.

"..._What_?"

Ashiya winced and cleared his throat. "Well, ah… You're always so hot and cold. It's really frustrating, and you hurt my feelings a lot. I talked to Zenko about it and we decided you're definitely tsundere. So… I think you should stop. Being like that, I mean." Ashiya made a face like even he was surprised by the nonsense coming out of his mouth.

"I…" Itsuki didn't know how to respond to that accusation. "So let me get this straight: You betrayed my trust so you could prove you could do energy transfer—which I explicitly told you _not _to do—and also to yell at me for my personality flaws. Is that right?"

"No…" Ashiya's voice was very small. "Not exactly. I mean, I wanted to prove the thing about energy transfer, but the other thing, I..." He huffed and started pacing again. "Alright, look, I did want to talk to you about something else—not the tsundere thing. Although you _are _one, if you ask me—but it feels cruel to ask when you can't move.

"I'm going to give your energy back, but you have to promise not to punch me or tackle me or run away before I ask you the question. Promise?"

Itsuki narrowed his eyes. "I can punch you after you ask the question?"

"Yes. If you still feel like punching me, you can punch me. I won't resist."

"Fine."

Ashiya stepped over to him and took his hands. Itsuki's fingers tingled, then his arms, and then the buzzing reached his chest and shot through the rest of his body. It felt a little like pins and needles, but warmer.

Itsuki straightened from his undignified slump and scowled. He couldn't wait to punch his mutinous friend in his pretty little face. "Well?" he demanded. "What is it?"

Ashiya swallowed and gripped Itsuki's hands tighter. Then, looking directly into his eyes, he asked, "Abeno-san, are you in love with me?"

Itsuki's heart stopped. His ears stopped. His brain stopped. The world ceased to move and there was nothing but a blank, muffled void inside him. He stared into Ashiya's deep blue eyes and struggled to pull breath into his constricted lungs.

"No." The word was a gasp.

"No?" Ashiya's eyelashes fluttered and his hands loosened around Itsuki's.

Itsuki squeezed his eyes shut. _No._ His chest felt like it was being prised apart. _It wasn't supposed to happen like this._ It was supposed to be a sunny day on a windswept hill, or at a blossoming garden, or in the soft light of Ashiya's bedroom. Not this tortured whisper, this forced confession.

"Abeno-san."

Ashiya let go of his hands and a piece of Itsuki went with him. Emotion flooded back into his body, building hot and terrible in his throat, pounding his his head. Ashiya pressed a cool hand against his cheek.

"Itsuki."

He opened his eyes.

"Do you love me?"

Ashiya's face looked calm, but the light in his eyes burned blue. He had waited a lifetime to see that look reflected in the other boy's eyes.

"Yes," Itsuki breathed.

Then he pulled Ashiya forward and punched him in the face.


	9. JDNT

"Fuuuuuuuuu—!" Hanae muffled the curse on his lips at the last second. He grasped his cheek and stamped his foot in an attempt to crush the pain radiating through his jaw. "You actually punched me!"

"Of course I punched you! You ruined everything!"

"I just asked if you lo—"

"Yes, you did! Why did you do that?" Angry tears pricked at the corners of Abeno's eyes. "So you could embarrass me? So you could pity me?"

"Wha..." Hanae dropped his hand from his cheek. "No... Of course not." His stomach churned at the mortification and hurt on Abeno's face. Hanae's heart seized in his chest and sunk fast when he realized the fight had drawn gazes. The onlookers turned away politely when he glanced over, but Hanae knew their ears were still bent toward them.

"I'm sorry," Hanae said quietly, so only Abeno could hear. "I shouldn't have done this here."

"You fucked up."

Hanae flinched. _I did this all wrong_.

From the beginning he had approached this terribly. But he had been angry and confused and desperate, and by the time he realized tricking and lecturing Abeno was a very bad decision, it was too late. He thought he would be able to explain and turn the situation around, but it was just getting worse and worse.

"Please, I'm sorry. Can we talk about this in private...?"

"No. You—" Abeno's words stuck in his throat as the tears in his eyes finally escaped down his cheeks. He swiped them roughly away. "I don't want to see you again. Not for a while."

Hanae's breath caught in his throat. _No, Jesus, fuck. This is going so badly! I need to fix it. This is my last chance. _Hanae swallowed. He pushed past his pride, the onlookers, and his fear at the feral look on Abeno's face, and got down on his knees.

"I'm an idiot and I was wrong to trick you and embarrass you in public. I deserved to be hit. But I needed to know," Hanae said in a rush. Abeno's brow creased in suspicion. "I needed to know how you felt about me. I'm not smart, I get overexcited and carried away, and I make mistakes all the time. You know that better than anyone. So when I heard you loved me... I wasn't sure if I could believe it. I didn't want to get carried away before I knew if it was true.

"So that's why. That's why I acted rashly and stupidly, and I understand why you might hate me now, but I don't hate you. I don't hate you at all."

The anger in Abeno's face had drained away, replaced by dumb shock. Hanae's heart was beating so fast he could feel it in his mouth. He tried his best to speak it true.

"I love you too."

Hanae stopped there, half because he thought he should give Abeno a moment to process, and half because he felt so nervous and exposed he might just throw up.

Abeno opened his mouth. Closed it. The tears had dried and the only thing sparkling in his eyes now was uncertainty. He glanced up and noticed they had an audience of grinning and scandalized onlookers. Abeno went red from his neck to the tips of his ears.

"Get up," he whisper-yelled. "You're so freaking embarrassing. Get _up_." He tugged Hanae to his feet, snatched his grocery bag, and muscled them both away from prying eyes.

"Are you still mad?" Hanae asked, studying Abeno's flushed face. Hope flickered in his chest, but it flagged when he heard Abeno's reply.

"Yes, I'm still mad, so shut up."

Abeno found the nearest open door, called the Mononokean, and pushed Hanae through. Hanae stood in the middle of the room, shoes still on, and waited nervously as Abeno tugged the door closed.

"Abeno-san...?"

Abeno stood facing the door. "What were you thinking?"

"I...don't know. I'm kind of a mess today. I already apologized."

Abeno turned around, and for a minute he just chewed his bottom lip and looked at the wall just above Hanae's head. Then he scrubbed a hand over his face and met Hanae's eyes. "I'm really confused and annoyed right now."

"I know." Hanae felt the same churning confusion in the pit of his stomach. But there was also tentative excitement. A confused and annoyed Abeno was much more preferable and promising than an angry one. "I started wrong, but I meant what I said: I love you too."

Abeno made a choked noise. "How can you say it like—"

A raucous jingling interrupted his response. Hanae turned and realized, to his horror, that it was the Mononokean scroll.

**Wait, what! OwO? Did you say you love Itsuki?**

Fuzzy awakened from his spot in the alcove and looked about in abject confusion as the Mononokean continued to make an excited racket, firing off questions and congratulations and more questions.

**This is great news! I thought it would never happen! Itsuki's loved you for forever! Who confessed first? **

Abeno was so red-faced he looked as though he would melt any moment. Hanae's body burned as well. It was one thing to confess in front of strangers, it was another for people and youkai they knew to witness their bumbling.

"Mononokean," Abeno barked, "open a door to Ashiya's room."

**(,,Ծ****‸****Ծ,, ) Oh, come on, Itsuki!**

"Now," Abeno said, then tagged on a hoarse, "please." The Mononokean scroll kept its pouty face, but the door opened.

Abeno grabbed hold of Hanae's shirt sleeve and tugged him out of the Mononokean, leaving Fuzzy and the groceries behind. Hanae worried he would get whiplash at the rate they were running from place to place. Although, when he stepped out into his own room, he felt instantly calmer and more confident. And at least now they were alone to talk things through.

Abeno slammed the door behind him and whirled around. "You mean it?" he demanded. "This isn't some kind of joke, or another trick, right? It better not be."

Hanae blinked at the juxtaposition between Abeno's threatening tone and blushing face. The combination did wonders to brighten his gold eyes.

"I mean it. I love—"

Abeno leapt across the space and slapped his hands over Hanae's mouth. "How can you keep saying that with a straight face?" Abeno sputtered. He squeezed his eyes shut. "Stop. I can't think when you say that."

Hanae's pulse fluttered. He knew he shouldn't rejoice in seeing how tortured Abeno was over his feelings, but it sent a pleased thrill down his spine. Abeno must really like him if he was this undone by Hanae's confession. _How did I not realize his feelings before?_

He peeled Abeno's hands from his mouth. "Okay. I won't say it anymore. Not until you want me to."

Abeno reluctantly opened his eyes. "Good," he said, face serious as can be.

If Hanae wasn't standing near enough to see Abeno's hands trembling at his sides, he would have thought he had finally mastered himself. For his part, Hanae felt like an overcharged battery. It took all his willpower to stand still and hold eye contact with Abeno. He wanted to move, he wanted to speak, but he didn't know what exactly he wanted to do or say. This was uncharted territory, and he had basically stumbled into it by accident.

"How did you know?" Abeno asked.

Hanae pressed his lips together. He didn't want to confess he'd learned of Abeno's feelings from Yahiko. For one, he didn't want to get the youkai into trouble; Yahiko was a brat, but then he was a child by youkai measures, so it was par for the course. For two, Hanae didn't want to admit he hadn't been able to figure it out on his own. Because it was so _obvious _now that he looked back on his and Abeno's interactions.

"I realized after the energy transfer," Hanae said, since he _had_ learned after that incident. "You were so protective… Things kind of clicked after that."

"Oh…" Abeno glanced down at the floor. His expression had turned shy, his blush faded to a delicate pink on his cheeks. Hanae's lungs constricted as a wave of affection surged into his chest. "So then…" Abeno began again. "When did you…?"

"When did I know how I felt?" Hanae finished in a small voice. Abeno nodded and met his eyes again. "Erm…"

Hanae had thought about this over the last week, but he could never pinpoint an exact moment. The last time someone confessed to him, he had been in elementary school and too young to have any interest in dating. Even now at fifteen, he hadn't thought much about romance—but since he learned of Abeno's feelings, things had started to shift. And now that Abeno was standing in front of him, completely unguarded, Hanae wondered at how quickly his feelings were growing moment to moment.

It seemed to him that he had cherished his love for Abeno as a friendship until he realized that another door was open to him. Once he realized romantic love was an option, his feelings happily reconfigured themselves.

"Not until recently," Hanae admitted. "Otherwise… I think this would've happened sooner. And in a better way." He laughed a little because he didn't know how else to release his shame. "Geez… I'm really embarrassed that I forced you to confess like that. It wasn't very romantic, was it?"

Abeno frowned and studied his face. He stared so long that Hanae thought he must have said something stupid again, but then Abeno brushed the edge of Hanae's cheek with his fingers.

"You're bruising," he said, and then in a rougher, sadder voice, "I'm sorry I hit you."

"It's okay. Like I said, I deserved it." Hanae fisted his sweating hands. Abeno had touched him before, of course, many times, but now that their feelings were laid out between them, the brush of Abeno's fingers against his skin felt deeply intimate.

"Your hands are cold, Abeno-san," he said quietly, and leaned ever so slightly into the touch. Abeno's fingers froze on his cheek and Hanae stilled as well.

"You can..." Abeno turned his face away and side-eyed him, "...call me what you did before."

Hanae tilted his head. "Call you...what?"

"Before… When you asked me how I felt about you..." He cleared his throat. "You said my name."

"Oh." A slow smile dawned on Hanae's face. "You mean when I called you...Itsuki?"

At the time, he had only been desperate to make Abeno look at him and answer truthfully. There wasn't anything calculated in it and he had been too nervous himself to notice Abeno's reaction.

But he was paying close attention now, and when he saw the way Abeno flushed when he spoke his name, Hanae's grin widened. "You're saying I can call you Itsuki from now on?"

Abeno crossed his arms and looked away. "If you want."

Hanae did want. He wanted to jump for joy, but he had to play it cool in case any sudden movements would send Abeno—Itsuki—back into his shell. "Then, if you want, you can call me Hanae."

Itsuki didn't say anything, but his blush deepened. Hanae had never seen Itsuki blush this much. Was this going to become a regular thing? Because he might just die from cuteness overload.

Hanae scuffed his shoe on the carpet. "So, um… Does this mean we're," he waved a hand vaguely through the air, "you know…"

"Well, we both confessed, so..."

"Right, we did, so…" Hanae cleared his throat. "So, yes? I mean, we're…?"

"Yes, Hanae, we're dating," Itsuki growled.

Hanae didn't know what effect hearing his name from Itsuki's lips would have on him, but… _Holy shit. _Hanae went instantly red. He pressed his hands to his mouth. "Say that again."

Itsuki's shoulders bunched up to his ears. "No." He turned abruptly and marched out the door.

Hanae was so immersed in the ecstatic delirium of what had just transpired, he didn't realize until he heard his mother's surprised voice that Itsuki had walked out the door to the stairs, rather than back into the Mononokean. Hanae gasped and rushed out into the hallway. Itsuki stood stock still at the top of the stairs, while Hanae's mom stared at him from two steps down.

She smiled at Hanae over the laundry basket she held in her arms. "I didn't hear you two come in!" she gushed. "It's so nice to see you again, Abeno-kun."

Itsuki mumbled a polite reply and glanced back. His eyes clearly said, _Help._

Hanae wanted to laugh, but instead he obliged and said, "We just got here. We're working on a project. For, ah, the photography club."

"Oh, how nice. If you want, I can make some snacks. I'll just put this away and we can chat downstairs."

"Sure—"

"No—"

Hanae and his mother turned to Itsuki with twin looks of confusion. The blond boy stared back, completely flustered and saucer-eyed. Guilt surged over Hanae. It had been a very emotional last few minutes; clearly, Itsuki was overwhelmed. Hanae moved to stand beside him and smiled at his mother.

"Actually, if it's okay, could you bring the snacks up to my room in an hour?" As he spoke, Hanae slipped a hand behind his back and gave Itsuki's hand a reassuring squeeze. Itsuki breathed sharply, but made no other indication of their hand holding, and his mother was none the wiser.

"Hm," his mother hummed pleasantly. "Alright then. Take these to Hanae's room, will you?" She pressed the laundry basket into Itsuki's chest and he accepted it automatically.

Hanae ushered them back into his bedroom and shut the door. Itsuki stood in the middle of the room, looking shell shocked. "I don't know what it is about your mother," he said slowly, "but every time I see her, I feel terrified."

Hanae laughed. "My mom is harmless. But, that being said, I get my high energy from her, so maybe that's what scares you."

"Maybe." Itsuki placed the basket on the coffee table. "...Wait. I was supposed to be leaving…"

"And now I've got you back in my room." Hanae flashed a mischievous grin. "Isn't dating me fun?"

Itsuki gaped at him. "You— Were you always this conniving?"

"Whoa, 'conniving'? That hurts, Itsuki."

"I'm not falling for that. We shouldn't be building a relationship based on tricks, _Hanae_."

Hanae's smile shrunk. He mumbled an apology. "But I was trying to save you… You shouldn't have went out the wrong door if you didn't want to be in this situation." He pouted. He knew it was childish, but he couldn't help it. "We can't build any kind of relationship if you run away every time you get emotional."

"I—" Itsuki began, and stopped. "You're right."

Hanae perked up.

"It's a habit, I guess. I'm used to…avoiding my feelings. Especially towards you." Itsuki sighed and crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed. "I don't like letting people see me. Or, at least, I didn't before." He glanced up. Hanae's knees felt weak at the vulnerability he saw reflected in Itsuki's light eyes. "You've helped me be better. But I'm still not...at your level. So you're going to have to be patient with me."

"…Can I suggest something without you getting mad?"

Itsuki's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Well, I was thinking, if you're uncomfortable voicing your feelings, or letting people see your emotions, then what if you show them instead?" Hanae shifted from foot to foot. "With energy transfer."

"This again." Itsuki groaned and laid back on the bed.

Hanae's eyes traced Itsuki's supine form from his legs to the rise and fall of his chest. Warmth coiled in his abdomen. "Let me show you," he said, approaching.

"I don't think—" Itsuki shot up when Hanae stepped between his legs. "What are you doing?" He scrambled backward until he was flattened back against the wall.

"Calm down." Hanae tried to sound reassuring, but since he was crawling onto the bed and over Itsuki's legs to straddle his lap, Itsuki grew more agitated.

"Ashiya," he warned, voice tight.

"Abeno-san," Hanae echoed, matching his slip. "It's just energy transfer." He cupped Itsuki's face in his hands. "You can trust me."

Itsuki's throat worked as he stared into his eyes. He had gone completely still; it was possible he wasn't breathing. Hanae's heart raced, and he could feel the answering pound of Itsuki's pulse beneath his fingers.

_Behave yourself_, he whispered to his body as he shifted to sit more comfortably. He didn't want to scare Itsuki by pushing too far on the first day. He _would_ prove he could still be trusted, that he could be gentle and patient like Itsuki had asked of him. _Energy transfer, just energy transfer_. Hanae closed his eyes so he wouldn't be tempted to do anything but.

He focused on all the things he loved about Itsuki: his slow smiles; the way the sunlight caught in his hair; his strength and compassion when it came to his duties as Master of the Mononokean; his straightforward reasoning; the rough timber of his voice when he felt protective; the vivid color he blushed. Hanae held these memories until his whole body brimmed with the emotions, and then he sent the warmth skittering down his fingers.

He heard Itsuki's soft gasp, but Hanae kept his eyes carefully shut. He only opened them when he felt Itsuki's hands close over his wrists. Hanae peeked through his lashes, but had to immediately drop his gaze. Itsuki had never looked at him like _that_ before, and Hanae was finding it hard to breathe.

"That's how I feel about you," he mumbled, hyper aware of the heat in his cheeks.

Itsuki took his hands in his, and Hanae stared down at where their fingers overlaid each other as Itsuki shifted to sit upright against the wall.

"So, um," Hanae continued, feeling Itsuki's gaze burning into his face, and babbling to try to distract himself. "Now you know it works, and you could do that, if you ever feel self-conscious."

I _feel self-conscious!_ He had achieved his goal of energy transfer, and now all he could think about was how he was basically _sitting in Itsuki's lap,_ and Itsuki was touching his hands and looking at him like he was crazy in love, and Hanae had _promised _himself he would behave. For the love of all that was holy, he would not break down and—

Itsuki took him by the chin and kissed him. It was a closed mouth kiss, and gentle for all its suddenness, but Hanae felt like the wind had been knocked out of his lungs. One of Itsuki's hands slid up his neck, guiding him closer. Hanae went willingly.

His skin tingled where Itsuki touched him, on his lips, his neck, and his hip where Itsuki's other hand had slipped just beneath the hem of his shirt. Hanae shivered. Warmth blossomed in his chest, clouding his head with a constant susurration of desire and softness and _love_. Hanae's lips parted in a silent gasp; Itsuki was transferring his energy to him, conveying the depth of his feelings spiritually and physically.

Hanae had no experience with kissing, but when you were desperate enough, you made things happen, one way or another. And it helped when your partner was determined to please and be pleased.

Hanae rested his hands on Itsuki's chest and kissed back, slow and tentative at first, but his confidence grew each time Itsuki met him. And then he grew greedy, trailing his hands down Itsuki's ribs and over his stomach. Itsuki twitched and uttered a startled noise against Hanae's lips, leaving his mouth open just enough for Hanae to slip his tongue in.

Itsuki broke the kiss and pulled back, though his hands remained tangled in Hanae's shirt and hair.

"Sorry," Hanae sighed, his breathing uneven. He felt like his head might float away if it wasn't attached to his body.

"S'okay." Itsuki's voice sounded the way Hanae felt. His thumb grazed Hanae's cheek. "It's not that I don't want to, I just... Your bruise is gone."

"Hm?"

Itsuki's brows drew together. He tilted Hanae's head to get a better look. "It's gone," he repeated, pressing the skin over his jaw. Hanae didn't feel so much as a twinge. "There's no bruise any more."

"Huh..." Hanae rubbed the spot with his own fingers. "So, your kiss healed me. Is..." his mouth curved into a smile, "...that what you're saying?"

Itsuki huffed. "It was probably the energy transfer. I was thinking about protecting you. But," he met Hanae's eyes, "yes, in a manner of speaking." Hanae giggled, which won him a small smile. "I think, though, that you should get out of my lap now," Itsuki said.

"Why? You don't like it?"

Itsuki's face reddened. "I do," he admitted, "but I'm pretty sure I hear your mom coming up the stairs." Hanae gasped and quickly rolled off.

By the time his mom knocked and creaked the door open, Itsuki and Hanae were sitting innocently, though a bit messily, on the floor around the coffee table.


	10. Agnes

"Alright," Hanae chirped. "Do you want to pick first?"

Itsuki looked down at the slips of folded papers before them on the table. There were about ten. The coffee shop buzzed around them, crowded enough to give the occupants a sense of privacy, which was just what Itsuki needed. He was freaking out internally.

Only yesterday he and Hanae had confessed to each other, so, officially this was their day one. Last night, after Itsuki returned home, he and Hanae talked on the phone into the late hours of the night. It was surreal, laying in bed listening to Hanae's soft, warm voice and feeling his heart pound whenever he remembered that this would be the new normal. It was the kind of thing besotted teenagers did and felt in movies.

At the end of the call, Hanae asked if Itsuki wanted to go on a date. A_ date._ Itsuki's stomach performed excited acrobatics. When his love was hidden and (he thought) unrequited, Itsuki daydreamed about he and Hanae going on dates, but never did he believe it would actually become reality. He had imagined a million different scenarios, but, of course, when Hanae asked what they should do for their date, Itsuki's mind went instantly blank. He went into mumble mode and claimed to know nothing about what made a good date. He felt like a bumbling fool, until he realized Hanae's voice had also dropped shyly.

"Well," Hanae said into the phone, "what if we each write down some ideas and tomorrow we can pick one?" It was an idea only Hanae could think of, weird but exciting, and Itsuki agreed immediately.

Which led them to this moment. Both of their date ideas had been piled on the cafe table between them, and the moment of action was a breath away.

Itsuki cleared his throat. "You choose."

Hanae's smile looked as nervous and excited as Itsuki felt as he reached into the pile and pulled out a paper. He laid the unfolded idea out on the table sidewise so they could read it together: _Go to an arcade._

Hanae flashed Itsuki a small smile. "An arcade, huh?"

"I've never been, so… I thought we could go...together." Itsuki's gaze had slowly wandered away from Hanae, seeing the way Hanae's eyes sparkled and his smile grew larger as he spoke. This was more embarrassing than he thought it would be.

"I think it's a great idea. I haven't been to an arcade in ages."

Hanae's face took on a thoughtful aspect, and Itsuki snatched the moment to rove his eyes over Hanae's person without the threat of Hanae noticing and making him feel like a puddle of feelings. He had exchanged his school uniform for a pair of jeans and a yellow t-shirt, and when he combined his outfit and the excited sparkle in his eyes, it reminded Itsuki of how perfectly Hanae's warmth mirrored the sun.

Itsuki was dressed in slacks and a white button-up, because he hated the way jeans felt and he realized, when he was fretting over what to wear today, that he only owned white button-ups. Apparently Itsuki had never before imagined he might want to look interesting on a date, and his wardrobe reflected his failing. Still, he at least thought he looked polished, and that was attractive…. Right? Maybe? Itsuki frowned at himself.

"What's wrong?"

Itsuki wiped the frown from his face. "Nothing. Let's go." He pushed up from the table and stalked toward the cafe door. Hanae snatched the papers from the table, crammed them in his pocket, and scrambled to follow.

"So, um, actually," Hanae said after a few minutes of walking, "I was thinking, since today's our first day of dating…." He paused and Itsuki side-eyed him. His heart fluttered when he saw the blush on Hanae's cheeks. At least Itsuki wasn't nervous all by himself.

"Well, I was thinking," Hanae started again, "that we could ask questions back and forth to get to know each other better." His voice trailed off and reached a question by the end.

Itsuki slowed as he thought about it. "I guess we don't know that much about each other…" He turned to Hanae, face plain with surprise. "I never really thought about it."

"Right? I mean, we see each other all the time, and I know the important stuff about your personality and job, but the little things—your favorite color, or best memories, things like that—I don't know any of them." Hanae bit his lip. "I want to know everything about you."

Their hands brushed and a shock of pure emotion shot through Itsuki's chest. His heart galloped as he stretched his fingers toward Hanae's and he felt Hanae's fingers seeking his in return. Their pinkies had just started to link when a group of people walked out of the convenience store in front of them. Their hands jumped apart. The group walked by, chatting loudly and apparently oblivious to the two furiously blushing teens staring at the ground as they passed.

Itsuki recovered first and mumbled, "The arcade is just up there." Hanae nodded and they started walking again. "My favorite color is red."

"Hm?"

"My favorite color. It's red. You wanted to know."

The shiny exterior of the arcade came into view. It was an older building, but had been kept in good shape over the years by loving owners. The doors were wide open today—the weather was gorgeous, sunny and neither too hot or cold—and the music and random electronic pings from the machines inside the arcade flowed out onto the street, enticing passerby.

"Mine's blue," Hanae said.

The corner of Itsuki's mouth quirked up. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" Hanae laughed and Itsuki's amusement turned into a full blown smile as they stepped inside the arcade.

There was already an afternoon crowd. Little kids horded around the skee ball alleys and clogged up the car simulators. Teens cackled as they shot up pedestrians and zombies in the first-person shooters. The adults that were there were occupied with the more physical games, such as pinball and air hockey.

Itsuki swallowed at the buzz of voices and games. He avoided busy places like this if he could help it, but he could sense Hanae's excitement beside him and so kept his body still and mouth shut.

"What's your favorite game?" Itsuki asked.

"Mmm… Pacman!" Hanae chirped. "We have to get coins first, though."

He pinched Itsuki's sleeve and tugged him toward the back of the room. Maybe he hadn't been to the arcade in a while, but he certainly remembered its layout well enough. They argued at the coin machine over whose yen they would exchange for tokens, but Itsuki eventually won by sheer stubbornness.

Hanae huffed. "Fine, since you paid, you can ask me a personal question and I have to answer it. Deal?"

Itsuki arched an eyebrow at him, but as they walked to Pacman he considered what he should use his question for. Hanae inserted the coins and started the game up. Itsuki squinted as a bunch of pixelated blobs materialized on the screen. Hanae was pretty good, but by the third time he died, Hanae began to eye him expectantly.

"What's your deepest darkest secret?"

"What?" Hanae turned abruptly from the game and Itsuki almost laughed at the gobsmacked look on his face.

"You said you had to answer it, so I thought I'd make it a hard one."

"I…" Hanae pouted. The Pacman had died and the game asked if he'd like to play again. "I don't even think I have a deep dark secret."

"Really? Wow, how boring." Hanae made a face and this time Itsuki did laugh. "Okay, then… Have you liked anyone before?" The question was out before Itsuki could think better of it. He had a feeling of the answer, but even so, his stomach tied itself in knots while he waited for Hanae's response.

"Once." Hanae dropped his gaze. "She…"

_She?_ Itsuki's throat felt like it was being squeezed shut.

"She was my kindergarten teacher." Hanae finished, smiling up from beneath his lashes.

Itsuki blinked at him. "Kindergarten...teacher...?"

"Oh, yeah. Bando-sensei. It was really serious; we colored together, took naps…" Hanae uttered a forlorn sigh. "I gave her all my macaroni sculptures."

Itsuki made a strangled, irritated noise and gave him a light shove. Hanae stumbled back, snickering, and stuck out his tongue.

"I'm kidding, obviously," Hanae said. "I've never liked anyone but you, Itsuki."

Itsuki crossed his arms. "Well," he muttered. "Fine. Good. You better not have."

Hanae snorted and said something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "tsundere." He took Itsuki by the shoulders and turned him toward the center of the arcade. "Pick a game to play."

Itsuki eyes drifted around the room, and settled at last on a brightly lit case near the front of the arcade. No one was over there and it looked relatively quiet. He pointed. "That thing."

"The crane game?"

The crane game. That's right. Itsuki knew it well by reputation. The rigged contraption was in many dramas and movies he'd seen. Whenever a couple went on a date to an arcade, they played the crane game. He didn't know why, but he wanted to find out.

Hanae made a curious sound. "That's a hard one. You sure?"

Itsuki glared at it. "I'm sure."

Hanae collected their remaining coins and they walked to the entrance. Itsuki stared down the assortment of plush cats and furry bears inside the case, searching for a target. "There," he announced, jabbing his finger at a stuffed animal at the edge of the pile. "I'm going to get that for you."

Hanae peered into the case and his eyes lit up. "It looks like Fuzzy!"

It wasn't an exact match, just a fluffy white ball with big bright eyes stuck to the front, but Itsuki knew it would please Hanae, and he'd be damned if he didn't win it for him. He set up in front of the crane game and inserted his coins. Hanae hovered at his elbow, murmuring encouragement as he began to guide the claw toward its prey.

He failed. Multiple times. Itsuki's mouth slashed a grim line across his face as he launched the claw for the fifth time in a row. The claw fell over the hairball toy, clipping the synthetic fur and lifting it skyward. Hanae gasped and Itsuki held his breath. The toy slipped from the prongs and bounced into the center of the case. Itsuki hissed and thumped his fist against the controls.

"I told you the game was hard." Hanae sighed and flashed a smile at him. "Hey, it's okay, you don't have to get it for me."

"No. I'm getting it," Itsuki growled, slotting another coin in before Hanae could protest. This was no longer about getting the toy, it was about _winning_. It was about beating this confounded game.

"Itsuki…" Hanae said drily.

He sighed, and Itsuki finally broke out of his glare. Hanae's attention had drifted outside and something in his face became deeply focused. Itsuki didn't know what he saw or was thinking, but fear stabbed at his gut. Hanae was losing interest. That couldn't happen. This was only their day one.

"I…" Itsuki glanced at the crane game. "Sorry, I'll stop," he blurted. "I put a coin in, so I have to play this one, but then—"

"No, actually, keep playing," Hanae said suddenly. "Play until you run out of coins. Make sure you get that toy for me." The sentence was a command, and Hanae's face was so deadly serious that Itsuki could do nothing but nod mutely. "I'm going to the bathroom for a sec. Stay here; I'll be back."

Itsuki watched him run off, his heart sinking. _I ruined it. I'm the most boring date in the world._ Itsuki slapped at the crane game controls, barely paying attention now. His head clouded with anxiety. _He's not going to just run away and not come back, right? He's not going to break up with me… Right?_ Itsuki banged his head against the glass and groaned. _No, shut up. He'll be back by the time you use the last coin._

Itsuki focused on the crane game, trying not to think of anything else. Five minutes went by, and he was on his last try when at last the claw snagged the toy and dragged it into the bin. Itsuki stared wide-eyed at it. The swoop of relief and pride in his chest evaporated, though, when he realized Hanae hadn't returned. Itsuki grabbed the toy and clenched it in his hands as he scanned the room for his date.

He had disappointed Hanae, but he would fix it. He would present this stupid stuffed animal to him and apologize. He would get down on his knees if he had to.

Itsuki stalked toward the bathroom and waited, practicing his apology. But when another minute ticked by and still no Hanae, he checked inside. There was no one in the bathroom. Itsuki's heart pounded in his throat. Had he really up and left? Feeling faint and sick, and not knowing what else to do, Itsuki wandered back to the crane game.

And there Hanae was. The boy turned this way and that, combing the crowd with flashes of his dark blue eyes. The pressure in Itsuki's heart eased; Hanae looked just as worried and scared as Itsuki had felt.

"Hanae," he called.

Hanae's gaze found him at once and the smile of pure relief that blossomed over his face made Itsuki's legs go weak. They moved toward each other with the unerring intent of magnets, meeting in the middle.

"I got you a present," Hanae announced the minute they stood together again.

Itsuki's heart fluttered as he produced a single flower from behind his back. It was egg yolk yellow, six-petaled, and trumpeted at the center. Itsuki felt like he had seen such a flower before, but as he took it, he looked up at Hanae for an explanation; as the son of a florist, he suspected there was more to the gift than it just being a pretty flower.

"I didn't go to the bathroom," Hanae confessed, rocking back on his heels. "I went next door to the flower shop." He gestured at the flower. "It's a jonquil. In the language of flowers it means, 'I like you too, and I want to keep liking you.' " He and Itsuki colored at the same time, but Hanae was quicker to recover. "I wanted to buy you a whole bouquet, but I thought it'd be difficult for you to carry around a bunch of flowers all day. ...And I'm poor."

"Thank you," Itsuki murmured. The jonquil had a dainty spring-like fragrance and he was pleased that it matched Hanae's outfit. "I got this for you. Finally." He handed over the fluffy toy.

Hanae beamed and hugged the faux hairball to his chest, and Itsuki was suddenly overcome again with the reality that they were a couple. Never could he have imagined this would be his life, that he would learn something as precious as love, and that he would be loved in return.

Itsuki was constantly feeling like he was behind the world, like he was missing things. Being the Master of the Mononokean had shifted his priorities as he grew up, and even though he still attended school in the human world, he wasn't truly present when he was there. It always felt like he had left his heart and soul behind in the Underworld.

Until he met Hanae. The moment the loud, eager, compassionate boy stumbled into his life, Itsuki began sliding on a downward slope. The feeling had been terrifying at first, but once he succumbed, life was so much more rewarding. The worlds were brighter with Hanae in them, more full of life and passion. He discovered that humans could be kind and understanding, and not everyone struck out in fear in the face of the unknown. Hanae taught Itsuki it was okay to want and feel for himself, that it was quintessentially human and that was something to be proud of.

Hanae was simple and straightforward. He knew what he wanted out of life. Itsuki adored that about him. But at times it also made him feel like he was being left behind. Itsuki had miles yet to go before he could match Hanae's stride.

But at least now, in this moment, this relationship, he and Hanae were both new and nervous. They had hours and days and years stretched ahead of them if they wanted, and they would all be spent together. His heart felt so full he thought it might burst. Could you die of happiness? Itsuki might be the first to manage it.

"Hanae," he said, quietly. He pressed the jonquil to his chest, and with his other hand, he took Hanae's.

They were in public, someone might see, but Itsuki didn't care for once. The only gaze that meant anything in that moment was Hanae's and he wanted to memorize every aspect of it. The light in Hanae's face softened, and he knew his feelings were reaching him, pulsing warm and alive like a heartbeat dovetailed between their palms. Itsuki felt the thrum of Hanae's energy twisting around his own.

Hanae took a step back, pulling him gently by the hand toward the corner of the room. "Come this way."

The area Hanae led them into was shadowed and virtually deserted, and Itsuki's mind filled with a flurry of burning hopes. He hastily squashed them before their intent leaked through their connection, but when Hanae glanced back at him, his eyes sparkled in a knowing way.

"Let's commemorate today," Hanae said, and swept his hand towards a lonely photo booth in the corner.

Itsuki arched an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really." Hanae squeezed his hand and a flood of sensations and insinuations danced up Itsuki's arm. Itsuki swallowed and asked no more questions.

They did take a few serious pictures. But mostly they made out. It was a difficult process in as close quarters as the photo booth presented, but they were very determined.

"I like this," Hanae managed between kisses, "but I liked it a lot better when we were in my room, and..." he pulled back and sighed, "you know..._had room_."

Itsuki nodded, trying to find a place to hold the flower where it would not be accidentally crushed when they shifted positions. They barely fit on the bench shoulder to shoulder, and he wanted to be able to kiss Hanae properly without worrying that someone would pull back the curtain suddenly. "Do you think we should go home, then?"

"Just to make out?" Hanae laughed, but trailed off a second later, seemingly taken with the idea. Itsuki certainly was. "You don't think we should… I don't know… Do more date stuff before that?"

"Kissing is date stuff," Itsuki muttered. Hanae hummed in thought, tracing idle lines over Itsuki's thigh with his finger as he did so. It was maddening. Itsuki would say virtually anything at this point to continue doing what they had been doing.

"We can't go to my house, though," Hanae said at last. "My mom's started spring cleaning, and the minute I show my face, she'll have us helping her. Then it'd be..." he made a gesture and sound like a bomb exploding, "...end of date."

"I have my own place," Itsuki volunteered before his mind caught up to his mouth. Hanae's eyes flashed and he felt an inexplicable thrill of fear shoot down his neck.

"You do?" Hanae asked, a little too innocently.

_Wait a second…_ "Were you…trying to get me to invite you over?"

"What, no, of course not." He leaned forward. "So where is it? Where do you live? I wanna see."

Itsuki narrowed his eyes. _I can't believe this. He definitely tricked me. How is it that he always tricks me? _Itsuki knew why though, blinded by affection as he was. In a way, he wanted to be fooled.

"You're a pain," he growled at Hanae. Then he grabbed his stupid smiling face and kissed him for everything he was worth. Hanae looked well put in his place by the time they parted, and Itsuki was dizzy with the want of him.

"We're not going to my house," Itsuki said, leaning back against the wall. He needed to put some space between them to catch his breath and slow his pulse. "We're stopping here and doing other date stuff instead."

"What? Why?"

"Because… I don't know what will happen if we're alone in my house like...this."

Hanae dropped his gaze. His face was already flushed, but Itsuki had no doubt it would've went red with the insinuation otherwise.

"I don't want to go too fast, Hanae," he said gently. "I want..." He stared at the photo booth screen, trying to order his thoughts. "I want to go on more dates, and help youkai together, and hold your hand. I want to get to know you better as a person, and I want to learn how to be a better boyfriend before we… You know. Do more than that." Itsuki scrubbed a hand over his face. "Sorry, I'm not sure I'm making sense. I'm not good at talking about stuff like this."

"No, I get it." Hanae laid a hand over his. "I want all that too. I want all of it, but there's definitely no rush. I mean, I'm only fifteen and we just started dating yesterday!" He laughed self-consciously. "Sorry, I get carried away sometimes, but I… I definitely don't want you to feel pressured or uncomfortable. We have all the time in the world."

"Yeah… Okay." Itsuki swallowed. For some reason he felt like crying. He turned aside and choked back the emotion as best he could.

"Come on," Hanae said. "Let's get out of here. Get some ice cream or something." They slid out of the booth and collected their photos and gifts.

Hanae chatted about silly things and food as they left the arcade. It wasn't anything different from what he usually prattled on about, but Itsuki couldn't help listening and looking at him like he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Hanae." The boy broke off mid-tangent and blinked his blue eyes at him. Itsuki slipped his hand into Hanae's. "I love you."

Hanae's lips parted. His voice caught just a little when he said, "I love you too."

Itsuki grinned at him and Hanae grinned back, and they just stood in the middle of the street grinning like lovestruck teenagers until they cracked and started laughing, giddy at the absurdity, lightheaded with the absolute perfection of them.

Then they walked on, hand-in-hand beneath the spring sun.


End file.
